HellGirl
by KitaraKata
Summary: A series of stories revolving around May aka. HellGirl, the daughter of HellBoy & Liz
1. HellGirl

**HellGirl**

_Part 1_

"NOOOOOO!" A shrill scream echoed throughout the large building labeled The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. "You sunk my battle ship!" May pouted, glaring up at her father whom was puffing on his cigar rather snuggly, arms crossed over his large chest. "S'not fair, you win every time." The demon child paused, putting a hand to her chin in thought. "Yooou CHEAT!" Taking her hand from her chin, May pointed a red finger at her father whom was sitting across the small table. Hellboy just blinked and raised an eyebrow at his daughter. "How can you cheat at Battleship?" He puffed out a cloud of smoke from his cigar and waited for May's response. "Uhhhh... You're tall! And... You can look over the little blocker... thing!" Nodding to herself, she continued to stare down her father, not about to give up the fact that he might have cheated. Her father just stared at her and looked down. It was true, he could have merely peeked over the small wall that separated their sides and cheated... But the fact was he hadn't even thought of that. "Well, that's pretty true. But I didn't." May just shook her head and let her forehead fall onto her side of the game. Her small, yet lethal horns almost denting the cheap plastic the game was made out of.

After May had finally resolved that he hadn't been cheating, she packed up the game and started her way to her small room. She let out a small sigh as she watched the many men in suits pass her, most of them not giving her a second glance. The one's who did take notice to her waved or nodded before continuing on with their busy lives underground. _It's nice living down here, I have to admit...No one ever screams when I walk by or tries to kill me. But I wish I could live up there...Fresh air, people... _"Hello May." The small demon child almost jumped out of her skin as the hollow voice rang out from beyond a plate of glass. Regaining her composure, she turned to the water tank where Abe, another 'freak' that lived underground resided. He was a good friend with her father, so she had grown up with him. "How come you always manage to scare me?" May put her free hand on one of her hips and swayed slightly to the side with staring the blue creature down. "Your just jumpy and you were in deep thought about the world above us." Abe smiled, fingers tracing the arubix cube he held in his webbed hands most of the time.

"Hey, hey! No mind reading!" The demon child set down her board game and started to turn the pages on the many books sitting outside the water tank. Unfortunately, since Abe had to stay in his tank, he couldn't take books into the water. In which case, people had to turn the pages for him while the books sat beyond the glass separating him from the world. "I didn't read your mind... You're easy. Just like your father." Abe grinned, head jerking to the side as he watched May. "It's that obvious?" The fish like creature merely nodded, May sighed. "I know all of us want to be normal, right? So we could walk around on the surface like we were any other person... Without being stared at or having someone scream at you." Abe listened silently; he wasn't much of a problem solver and knew that her father had felt the same way at her age. "As I told the others, all us freaks have is each other." May looked to Abe and sighed again, picking up the game she had set down. "Well... See-ya, Abe."

Once May had reached her room and put the game away, she flopped down on her bed face first. Tail twitching, she moved her head sideways to look at the small, black and white cat she kept in her room. "Heeeey, Zippy." Mewing, he rolled over and laid next to her head as she scratched his tummy. "Helloooo, dinner is served, madame." A tall, black haired man in a suit knocked on the large steel door that lead into May's room as he walked in, pushing a cart with food on it. "I'm not hungry, Hadly." The man stopped once the cart was next to the bed and sat down next to her, bouncing her up and down as his weight forced her to roll over until she was sprawled behind him. "What's wrong? Down about not being able to go outside?" May took her brown eyes from the ceiling to glare at Hadly silently. "Alright, alright. Sorry to bring it up." Standing, he looked around her room. "I don't blame ya... Your father always snuck out, too." He smiled, heading to the door. "Grounded or not." The demon child watched him close the thick door behind him and sighed.

Snatching a piece of chicken from the plate, May swung her feet around and leaped onto a chair that sat in front of a computer, constantly lit up and almost never turned off. Once the chair had stopped spinning, she took the chicken leg from her hand and stuck half of it in her mouth. After whipping her hand off on her blue jeans, she started typing.

ShadowCat36: Hey May, how ya doin'?

xHellGirlx: Eh, okay. Just got my dinner wheeled in

ShadowCat36: I'd love to get my meals wheeled into my room!

xHellGirlx: Not if you were on house arrest and couldn't even go outside...

ShadowCat36: That's true... Are you coming over anytime soon?

xHellGirlx: Yeah, meet me on your roof tonight at about... 1am, okay?

ShadowCat36: Okay, if I fall asleep then throw a rock at my head or something

xHellGirlx: Ha! Alright, but do you have a death wish or something?

ShadowCat36: Hardly. Oh crap! Mom's here, gotta go!

ShadowCat36 has signed off.

May stopped in mid-type as her only real friend outside The Bureau signed off. Sitting back, she finished her meal and fell onto her bed shortly afterwards. She'd wake up at about 11 so she could get ready and sneak out to go to Cate's house.

Around 11pm, May's mental alarm went off and she slowly opened her eyes. Mumbling to herself, she wiggled until he face was out from underneath her cat's fluffy body, which had somehow found itself right on top of her head. After confirming that it was 11pm, she began to get ready. Unlike her father, she tried her best to stay hidden among the many shadows of New York City and often dressed in all black and covering most of her face and body. She had received her mother's figure and human like features... But had gained her father's red skin, tail, and horns as well. May was always too scared to break her horns off and keep them filed down and was afraid it would hurt... That and when the last time she had tried to break them off they had almost came out by the root, which would have really hurt. Putting on a black beanie, a black scarf, and a black poncho over her red shirt, she slowly opened the large door leading into her room and slipped out.

May didn't know how her father managed to get out every time, being how big he was. She somehow managed to get out by the vents that coiled around under and above all the walls, floors, and ceilings. The demon child paused outside her room and looked around to make sure no one was watching besides the cameras, which she couldn't get around. Jumping up, she grasped hold of a vent in the ceiling and peeled it off with one hand, dropping it and catching it with her tail. Once she had heaved herself into the vent, she sealed the vent back and began crawling through the maze of vent pipes through the building. May had gotten lost in the vents the first few times when she was little and had to be removed, but since then she had learned the pathways like the back of her hand and in no time, she was lifting the vent that lead to the outside world.

Squeezing through the bars of the gate that surrounded The Bureau, May looked around her before darting off into an empty ally. _I hate keeping to the back allies and the shadow's... _Mumbling to herself, she leaped onto a garbage bin and started to climb up the buildings side that the garbage bin leaned on. After getting on the roof, May stuck her red hands on her pockets and shivered. A puff of white fog came out from the black scarf that covered May's mouth. The only thing she hated about the outside world was that it got so cold. Jumping from roof to roof about five or so times, she stopped on a ledge of a building to catch her breath, legs dangling over the side. As she watched the people walk by, she envied them. They had such simple, free lives and didn't even know it. Getting aggravated, she stood up and backed up, running and leaping onto the next building and the next until she was on the roof of Cate's apartment building. "She's not here yet... Must've fallen asleep." Grabbing a rope she had left at a previous visit, she tied it around a pipe that came out of the roof and slowly dropped down the side of the building until she had reached the window of Cate's room. Making sure no one else was inside; she tapped on the window before opening it. "Hey! ... Cate!" Cate stirred slightly and sat up. "Mmmm... I'll be up in a sec." Turning over underneath her covers, she fell back asleep. May glared at the lump of blanket that was her friend then grinned evilly.

"Ow!" Cate sat up, holding her forehead. "You didn't have to chuck a rock at my head!" May grinned, tossing a small rock up and down in her hand. "Hey, you said to throw a rock at you if you were asleep." Cate just glared at the red demon and grabbed her jacket. "I'll be up in a second." May grinned, closing the window and climbing up the rope she had used to climb down. Once Cate had gotten to the roof, the two teenage girls sat on the edge of the building and sipped mugs of hot chocolate Cate had brought up. "So I'm the only friend you have outside your home?" Cate looked up from her mug to watch May, whom was staring deeply into the brown liquid swirling around in her cup. "Yeah... I mean, I get on the internet to talk to people. It's the only way to meet people without them seeing me. You're the only one I know who didn't scream when I ran across your roof that one night." May paused, taking her eyes from her hot chocolate to look at Cate. "You didn't tell anyone about me, did you?" Worry filled her eyes, her friend just looked surprised. "Of course not. It's not like they'd believe me when I would tell them I meet HellGirl on my roof every now and then anyway." May just looked back down at her mug and took a sip of the hot liquid. "Good... I don't want to end up on TV like some sort of freak show." Her tail curled and uncurled as she thought.

Setting her mug down, May curled her knees to her chest and hugged her legs. "Sometimes I wish I looked more like mom instead of dad." Cate removed her lips from her cup and looked at the demon child. "Was your mom a human?" May's brown eyes glanced at Cate before going back to her feet. "Sort of. At least she appeared human. She was a pyro, though." Her friend nodded in understanding. "And you know who my dad is. The mysterious HellBoy." Uncurling her legs, she took her mug again and sipped almost angrily. "He doesn't get caught on TV as much as he used to." May didn't respond for a few moments, sipping from her mug. "He would always get spotted because he went to visit my mom a lot. Then my mom finally moved in with my dad and they had me..." She barely ever saw her mother anymore. She was always in the hospital.

When it got too late for Cate to stay up, May left. This time she just walked in the shadow's, not bothering to jump from rooftop to rooftop. Thinking about her mother lead her to the hospital. She loved seeing her mother, but she hated seeing her so sick. Letting out a sigh, she leaped onto the garbage bins outside the hospital and started to climb the wall. Once she got to her mother's window, she peeked in and waited until the nurse inside left, turning off the light as she closed the door. Luckily she had a room all to herself so May could enter without anyone else seeing her. After opening the window, she climbed in and went over to her mother's bed. May crouched, crossing her arms under her chin to simply watch her mother. Hearing something behind her, May twisted around and froze as she saw her father's large frame block the opening to the window. They both stared at each other until HellBoy made his way completely inside and shut the window behind him. Making his way over to his family, he knelt down next to May and let out a sigh.

"Mom's always been in the hospital... Why?" May looked up at her father with large, brown eyes. HellBoy looked down at his daughter for a moment before looking back at his wife, Liz. "When you were born, you were extremely tiny. You still are." May already knew this. Compared to her father, whom was over six feet tall, she was only four foot eight. "Your mom had lost a lot of blood and we weren't sure if she was going to make it... But she did." He reached out with his large, brick like hand and scooped up Liz's hand into his, rubbing the top with his thumb. "When you were about eight, she was diagnosed with cancer... Theirs still no cure for it, so all we can do is pray." May's pointed ears sunk slightly as she watched her father look so sad. The two of them sat in silence for the rest of the visit...

May had fallen asleep inside the hospital room and awoke to cold air blowing against her face. Opening her eyes, she looked up to see her father carrying her on his back. Usually she would have protested, but she was too tired to really care what was going on around her. The next thing she knew was the feel of her sheets going over her. She must have fallen asleep again while on her father's back. "G'night daddy..." May's eyes fell once again as she fell asleep, deep under her covers. HellBoy looked back at his daughter and smiled slightly before he closed the large door into her room...

May was jolted awake by the loud sirens indicating that her father and Abe would have to go out and fight some sort of ghost or monster. She had always wanted to at least watch what they did for a living. Throwing off her dirty clothes, she slipped on a clean, long sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans before running out of her room, tying her sneakers in the process and stumbling. "Hey!" May flailed one of her arms as HellBoy approached her, ready to leave. A few men in suits were behind him and blinked in confusion as he stopped. "Dad, can I pleeease, please go with you?" The red demon glared down at her, narrowing his eyes. "Of course not, now go back to bed." Her heart sunk and she fell to her knees, pleading. "PLEASE! I'll just watch!" Her father just snorted and stepped over her, which was like a train zooming above her head. "Gah!" Growling, she latched her hands onto his tail and got dragged behind him for a few feet before he stopped, turning back to her and yelling. "I said NO! Go back to bed!" As May began to cower, she heard the familiar voice ring out. "Why not let her? It's only a poltergeist. Watching shouldn't get her in too much trouble. Plus, she's going to have to take over for you sooner or later." Myer's winked down at the demon child who was sprawled across the floor, still latched onto her father's tail. HellBoy let out a sigh and raised his tail to partially lift his daughter off the floor. "... Fine. BUT you're only watching! Nothing else." May screamed in delight and jumped up, clinging to her father then Myers, HellBoy's caretaker like glue before running off to put her other shoe on... Which she had dropped in her hast to ask her father for permission to go with them.

Once May had gathered her shoe and put it on, they were off. The large garbage truck they used to transport Abe, Hellboy, and now May pulled out of the driveway with all three inside...

May sat down on a bench that was located at the very front of the back of the garbage truck, hanging on to whatever she could as the truck swerved and turned. "Jesus, is the ride always this smooth?" Glaring at nothing at particular, she fell to the side as the large truck took another wide turn. HellBoy grinned as he watched his daughter. "Of course! You get used to it." He barely even swerved as he stood, loading his gun and looking it over multiple times. "So what does a poltergeist do, exactly?" May turned to Abe, grabbing a shelf above her head to keep her from falling into his lap. Abe's head twitched to the side to look at the demon child. "Well... They hurt people and are invisible. Some can float through walls. You know, the usual stereotype of a ghost." May blinked as she watched Abe latch on a black thing around his neck to keep him alive outside of the water. "Here." HellBoy tossed a pair of odd-looking goggles and a gun looking slightly similar to his own to May. Upon catching both items, she dropped them into her lap. "Woah, woah. What're the goggles for and I've never even touched a gun in my life." She then paused, recalling that accident when her father tried to teach her how to shoot a gun when she was ten. "Uhh... 'cept that one time." She shuddered at what had happened...

"Alright, just hold the gun like this..." HellBoy crouched behind his daughter who held a gun shakily in her small, red hands. Placing one of his hands over both of her's, she steadied slightly with his help. "Now aim with both eyes open at that paper target over there. Aim for the middle, okay?" May gulped, trying to keep bother eyes open and aiming for the target that was across the room. "Why do I have to learn how to shoot, daddy?" Her hands started to shake again, but HellBoy quickly steadied them. "Well, it'll be to keep you safe if you know how and I'm not there to protect you." May's eye twitched. The thought of her father not being by her side always sent a shiver down her spine. "On the count of three, aim and pull the trigger." She tensed as her father's rough hands guided her's so that it aimed perfectly at the small bulls eye in the middle of the target. "One..." She gulped, "Two..." She twitched, "Three!" Just as May started to pull the small trigger, a loud alarm went off. Both father and daughter jumped at the abrupt siren, but since May had already half pulled the trigger, it was too late. Her arms flung sky ward as she shot, the bullet grazing one of her father's horns. Both of them screamed and fell back, May sprawled over her father's large bulk, gun still froze in her hands and arms locked straight. "Well... That didn't work out." HellBoy touched the steaming line where the bullet had grazed and winced, burning the tip of his finger. May didn't respond still frozen from the shock that went through her body as she had fired the gun.

May shook her head, remembering her father thought she had had a seizure or something and had to peel the gun from her tiny fingers. "Well, I don't want you to go in their unarmed and there isn't going to be a siren to scare you this time... Plus, you're a lot older now and hopefully a lot less jumpy." The demon child looked up at her father, who was looking through different types of bullets that hung on a rack then looked back at the gun that was in her hands. "Please, I'm about as jumpy as a rabbit on crack." Sighing, she complied to her father's wishes and stuck the gun in a holster before buckling it around her waist. "So what're the goggles for?" May held up the goggles to her eyes before looking at Abe, who was starting to explain them. "They let you see poltergeists and other such beings." Abe didn't need a pair; his abilities would let him sense the otherworldly being. "Hn." May flipped on the goggles and put them to her eyes once more. "Ooooo, daddy's greeeen." Strapping them on, she held out her hand to look at it with the goggles on. "Oooo! I'm green!" HellBoy turned to his daughter and raised an eyebrow. "What side you got those weird genes will always be a mystery to me."

May rolled her eyes and stood up. "So the scenery is blue, people and stuff are green, and ghosties aaaare?" Her father stashed his gun in its halter, turning to the back door of the garbage truck. "Red." The demon child nodded. "So will I be able to feel these things or hurt them or will only this green bullet thinger hurt them." HellBoy glanced back at her, ushering her behind him with his large, brick hand. "Only the bullet, so always keep alert." As the back door of the garbage truck opened, May saw many men dressed in black suits and holding guns. "Red, Blue, and... Uhh... Purple are heading in." The demon child blinked, scowling but then smiling. Were they considering her part of the team? It made her giddy at the thought. As Abe and HellBoy walked inside, Hadley stopped her and handed her an oval shaped light with metal around it. "Here. This is what we use to keep track of each other. Just press the light to turn it on or off." May grinned, strapping the tracking devise to her gun halter that she had picked up earlier in the truck. "Does this mean I actually get to fight?" Hadly swayed from side to side, walking forward with May behind him. "Ehhh, I wouldn't get your hopes up just yet. I doubt your father will approve of you even being here. For now it's best just to keep safe until he loosens up, alright?" The demon child let out a sigh. "Ooookaaaay..."

As Hadly and May entered where most of the others had stopped, she demon child gawked and looked around. The poltergeist was in a museum? "That's kinda... odd." Hadly turned around to look at May. "Huh?" She blinked, "Oh, it's nothing. But why would a poltergeist be in a museum?" Hadley pulled his gun from his holster and walked to where most of the men were gathering around HellBoy and Abe, in front of a large door. May followed, trying to keep instep and wondering if it would be wise for her to draw the gun her father had given her. "Well, a new Egyptian exhibit was put up earlier this morning. Some of the artifacts must have held the spirits of old pharaohs or maybe even some of the gods were trapped inside some of the artifacts or something. I'm not really the head of the operation so I don't exactly know how it got in, I just gotta know what I'm dealing with, right?" The red teen soaked everything in, standing silent for a few moments. "... Coooool." Hadly's left eye twitched, one of the habits he had whenever May confused him by her behavior.

Abe removed his webbed hand from the door that sealed the poltergeists away from the whole crew, armed with guns or all kinds. "Very odd... It appears they aren't poltergeists or spirits... Anymore." HellBoy paused, letting the arm that held his gun drop to his side. "What?" He almost growled at Abe's new information and wretched off the goggles, as did the rest of the team. "What do you mean 'anymore'? Did they just suddenly sprout forms or something?" Abe's head twitched to the side. "Well... Something is leading them, some kind of god. Egyptian god. Though I can't make out which one." HellBoy just mumbled. "Well, how many?" "Over seven, at least." Abe spoke calmly as usual and stood, backing up from the door, others following his example. "God... Dammit." HellBoy placed his hand on the knob and started to turn it just as May pushed herself through the crowd of men, Hadly yanking her arm back just as she reached to the front line to stop her. "Daddy?" The demon turned to face his daughter, her large brow eyes glued to his face. "Are you gonna be okay?" "Of course. I've dealt with worse." Smiling at his daughter, he entered the room.

May let out a heavy sigh. "Red'll be fine, May." Hadly patted her shoulder and the demon child just turned to head to the back of the crowd of men without a word. The door that HellBoy went into crashed and buckled as something was throw into it on the other side. Most of the men crouched in reflex and May looked back to the door, worry filling her eyes. I That's it. /I While all the men were fixed on the door, the red teen slipped out of sight and out of the back where the garbage truck was parked. "I don't care if I'm part of the team or not, but I'm not letting dad face all those things alone." May leaped onto a trashcan before scaling the wall. Once she got to a window that lead into the room, she peeked in. Odd-looking monsters surrounded her father as he tried to fight them off. There were over seven, just like Abe had said and only two of them were on the ground. I He's going to get killed. /I May growled and used her elbow to small open the window. She then immediately regretted doing so and winced as shards of glass stuck out from her elbow, black blood running out of the wound and onto the building. For some reason... It didn't hurt as much as she had expected. Was it part of her father's genes? Either way, she had to help him somehow. After unlocking the window through the hole she had created, May leapt into a pillar and slid to the bottom.

"Hey! Hippo ass!" May drew her gun and scowled at the many odd looking creatures turned her way. The creatures were odd indeed; their rear was of a hippo, their front and mane of a lion, and a face of a crocodile. She had seen them in pictures before, but never knew what they were. Some of the creatures started to advance at her, May backed up slightly. W_hat would dad do? I gotta help him somehow..._ In a split second she thought of it. "WHO YA GONNA CALL?!" As the creatures leapt at her at the abrupt yell, she leapt onto a glass case so she was out of their reach. The large creatures started to ram into the case to try and tip her off, but May hung on the best she could. Once she had gotten a nice balance, she started to shoot the creatures in their foreheads. Surely this would immobile them. But... It didn't. No matter how much she shot them, they merely got back onto their feet. "MAY!" May looked up as she heard her father call to her. He was still fighting through the masses of creatures, trying to get to her. "Da-!" The demon child was cut off as one of the monsters leapt through the glass that supported May's weight. Tumbling down, she fell on top of the glass and rolled off the stand.

Before she had a chance to react, one of the creatures leapt onto her back and started to claw and bite through her shirt, digging into her skin. May screamed and tried to roll over, only managing to use her gun to ram into the monster's eye. It let out a cry and stumbled off of her, giving May just enough time to scramble up and climb onto another glass case. She knew the same thing would probably happen, but it was better then running for her life on the ground. Unfortunately, she was out of bullets and could only use her gun as the creatures leapt up at her to ram into their eyes to try and blind them temporarily. "This isn't getting anywhere, Dad!" May screamed, jamming the barrel of her gun into the eye of another crocodile monster. "I KNOW that!" HellBoy was still punching his way through the masses of creatures to try and get to May.

Then, another monster crashed through the glass that supported May's weight and she fell to the ground. Shards of glass ripped and stuck into her already bleeding and torn back. The demon child screamed out but was cut off as one of the creatures latched its jaws around May's neck, flinging her into a wall. The wall crumbled away behind her as she made impact. The wounds on her neck and the impact into the wall were enough to knock the red teen out cold. "MAAY!" HellBoy's rage exploded as he whipped the monsters out of his way until he was crouched down at her side. "C'mon, May... You can't leave me here all alone." The thought of loosing his wife and daughter was too much for him, but he didn't have time to sympathize as more of the creatures tackled him to the ground. His rage and instinct to protect May kept him fighting the creatures off, punch after punch.

May blinked, breathing heavily. Pain coursed through her back, head, and neck as she tried to focus on her father's form. Her brown gaze was then caught by another object. Something or someone was standing in the corner, as if watching them fight for their lives like it was some sort of show. May growled and reached for her gun but remembered she was out of bullets. Quickly she looked around and found a green bullet that seemed to be filled with liquid. It must have fell from her father's belt as he had been fighting. Snatching it up and loading it into her gun, she aimed for the odd looking shape that stood in the corner of the museum and fired. Whatever it was, it let out a screech and disappeared on contact, taking all the creatures with it. HellBoy blinked in confusion, stopping in mid-punch as the monsters vanished. His attention them went directly to May as he spun around and kneeled beside her. "May! May, hang on. We'll get you fix up." The demon child's eyes started to close. "We got 'em, didn't we?" Once her eyes closed, her father scooped her up and slammed the door open. Most of them men jumped back, some ran to get the medics, and some, including Hadly, ran to HellBoy and his unconscious daughter. "She'll be alright, don't worry. She's a tough one." Hadly tried to comfort HellBoy who had dropped to his knees so the medics could bandage up May's wounds to keep her alive until she reached The B.P.R.D medical room.

"Nnnn..." May grumbled as she slowly opened her eyes. "Wha-"She stopped in mid-sentence and winced at the pain that shot through her throat. Abe looked down at her, bandaging the wound on her elbow she had made when she busted the window open. HellBoy spoke up, getting a sudden burst of energy to see that his daughter was awake. "Don't try to speak, Ammut bit into your throat so it'll hurt to talk for a few days." It was now that she was glad that she inherited her father's incredibly fast healing. Once Abe was finished, he looked to HellBoy, who gave him a glance that told him he wanted to be alone with his daughter. Abe didn't need his telepathy to know that much, and slipped out of the room. Taking his eyes from the door, he looked to May who was looking awfully tired and weak. "May... I knew you shouldn't have come. I'm sorry." May turned her head to give him an 'its okay, I wanted to come' look. "But... You did pretty much save my life. I doubt if you crashed in then they would've kept coming at me. The last time I was in a situation like that, your mother saved my ass." May gave him a weak smile, keeping back her urge to giggle at her father's expression.

After a pause of silence, he stood up. "Anyway, better get you to bed so you can rest." HellBoy gently picked up May into his arms and carried her to her room. Laying her down on her bed, she let out a sigh as he watched her almost immediately fall asleep. Today had been a rough day for her and him. Suddenly he dropped to his knees, feeling extremely faint. In all the hast, he had refused medical treatment so that all the attention went to May. HellBoy grit his teeth and pushed himself up, leaning on walls until Hadly caught a glimpse of him staggering around a corner. "Hey! Red!" Running to his side, he helped the large demon to the medical room and sat him back on the chair, still slightly smeared with the blood from May's back wounds. "We'll get ya fixed up." Hadly then ran out of the room to get someone to treat his wounds.

May woke up feeling weak and almost faint. She didn't bother to move from the position on her bed and reached her hand up to pet Zippy, who was dead asleep at her side. "H-"May coughed and stopped, remembering how much it hurt to talk. Ammut... What or who was that? She suddenly remembered her father mentioning the name. It had something to do with those monsters. "Nnnnnn..." May forced herself into a sitting position and winced at the pain that shot through her back. It wasn't as bad as before, thankfully. She then forced herself to stagger over to the chair in front of the computer and flopped down, turning it on. _I'll look up some info on this Ammut creature._ May leaned back in her chair, making sure only her shoulder blades touched the backing and not her lower back, which held most of the wounds. _Ammut... Ammut... Here we go._ The red demon scrolled down the page and started to read. I Ammut, devourer of hearts... Anubis... So this hippo/ lion/ crocodile thing ate the hearts that were unworthy of the afterlife after Anubis, weighed them. Odd, never thought they actually existed. /I

"Hey there. Feeling any better?" May closed the window with the information as Hadly walked in, a bowl of chocolate pudding in his hand. The demon child moved her hand in an 'okay but not great' gesture. "I see." Hadly walked over, helping her out of the chair and coasting her back onto her bed. "Here, try and eat some of this." Handing her the bowl of pudding, May took it and took out a scoop with the spoon. The second it touched her tongue she gave Hadly as disgusted look. "Yeah, I know. It has some medicine in it that will help with your throat. It'll probably be hard to swallow, too. But try and get as much as you can down, okay?" Hadly put his hand on her shoulder as she tried to swallow, pain shooting from her wound up to her temple. "Yeah..." Hadly let out a sigh, agreeing with her painful expression. "Try your best." Once May had gotten the spoonful down, she smiled at her caretaker meekly. Hadly was like a second father for her, sort of filling the void that her mother's sickness had caused. Nodding, he stood up and left. "Take care, now." The demon child watched him leave then looked down at the pudding. This was going to be harder then fighting all those Ammut's last night...

After getting most of the pudding down, she set the bowl aside and made her way back to the computer.

ShadowCat36: Hey!

ShadowCat36: ... Ya there?

xHellGirlx: Yeah, I'm here. Just pretty weak and sleepy.

ShadowCat36: What? Why?

xHellGirlx: Y'know the museum, right? We'll, let's just say some shit went down there last night. Dad and I had to do something and both of us got really messed up.

ShadowCat36: ... Danm. I'm not gonna ask what happened... I don't really think I wanna know. But are you and your dad okay?

xHellGirlx: I'm pretty sure dad's okay. I'm gonna check on him in a sec. I could be better. My back, neck, and elbow got pretty messed up. I probably won't be able to come over for a while, okay? Once I fell better, I'll be over right away. Might be a few days, though.

ShadowCat:36: S'ok, don't strain yourself and get some rest.

xHellGirlx: Yeah, thanks. I gotta go. Gonna check on dad then get some more sleep.

ShadowCat36: Okay, get better soon. See-ya!

xHellGirlx: See-ya.

xHellGirlx has signed off.

May rested her hand on her forehead and closed her eyes for a moment before standing. She needed to know how her father was doing before she got any rest of her own.

Things swayed as she walked down the long hallways of The B.P.R.D and she constantly leaned on the walls to regain her balance. It seemed like forever before one of the men in suits, a guy she knew as Garett, stopped her. "May! What're you doing out of bed? You should be resting." Garett was HellBoy's new caretaker since Myer's had gotten too old for the job and now ran other things. May made a humming sound and pointed to her father's room. "You wanna know how your dad's doing?" Garett looked back to where she had pointed before looking back at May. "He's fine, your dad's a tough one, just like you. He didn't get as beat up as you. Mostly just scratches on his front and back. Some on his arms. The usual your father always comes back with." May felt a cloud lift away from her head after getting the good news. "Let's get you back to your room..." After Garett had made sure May was settled in her bed, he headed out.

The next week was mostly filled with rest and healing for both May and HellBoy. But May had finally managed to sneak out and get to Cate's. This time she stuck to the allies since it was still painful to strain her body. "I'll be down in a sec." Cate disappeared back into her room shortly after the demon child had thrown a rock at her window. She had decided to just meet in the ally instead of risking opening her wounds and climb the side of the building. May stuck her hands into her pockets and rocked back and forth, a cloud of white mist puffing out from her scarf. It was getting even colder out every time she snuck out. Cate rounded the corner with two cups of hot chocolate as usual. Handing one of the mugs to May, she leaned on the wall of her apartment building. "So you're still a bit sore from what happened?" Cate blew the steam that danced out of the brown liquid and sipped. "Yeah, see?" The demon child pulled down her scarf to show a mild scar across her neck. Cate jumped. "Jesus." "Yeah, I got a lot on my back, too." May sipped on her hot chocolate, the liquid not bothering her anymore as it slid down her throat. "God... Some business ya got there." The two conversed until it got quiet late and Cate was about the head off. "Oh yeah!" The teen stopped and turned back to the red demon. "Here, I made this for you." She handed May a bead necklace with 'MAY' carved into the three center beads. "Wow... Thanks!" Wrapping the necklace around her wrist and making sure it was secure, she hugged her friend. "Yeah..." Cate giggled, "I was bored." May grinned, holding her wrist up so she could admire her friend's handiwork. "Well, I better be going, take care." Cate picked up the two mugs and waved as she rounded the corner. "You two and thanks again." The red teen waved back and vanished into the darkness that enveloped most of New York's alleys.

Not much had evolved about the Ammut's or the mysterious person or thing that May had shot that made the rest of the creatures disappear during the next month. The demon child pretty much forgot all about the incident. Not scars had lingered to remind her of the near fatal experience. Somehow, Cate had even convinced May to sneak out and come to a Christmas event that was being held in one of the many parks in New York City. Of course, they would stay at a secluded spot and watch the events and people from the sidelines. "Your sure no one will see me?" May's eyes darted about as she watched from the thick brush of the park's small wooded area. Cate rolled her eyes. "Unless some couple comes back here to make out, were perfectly safe." The demon teen just sighed and sipped on some hot apple cider. For a good while, Cate and May conversed and talked about the many people that passed the. Remarking on their weight, looks, and clothes.

"Hey, look at he-" A loud, ear piercing scream cut Cate off. May spasmed and almost choked on her cider before standing. _Those things again!_ The red teen shuddered as she watched three Ammut's start to cause havoc, killing the people that got in their way. Cate put her hand to her mouth. "Oh my god! You've gotta help those people, May!" May looked down at Cate, almost shaking. This time her dad wasn't there to save her. "I can't just run out there!" "But you can't just let those people die! I know your stronger then most!" Cate stood, pointing towards the people who were getting eaten and mauled. May growled and threw up her hands. "Fine! I'm gonna do it just so you can get away. Run home the long way, though the woods!" Vaulting over the bushes that separated the two girls from the rest of the crowd, she started to run towards the three Ammut's that were causing all the chaos. "HEY! Hippo ass! Remember me?!" Two of the creatures turned to face her before running at her.

May looked around for something to defend herself with and snatched one of the canes from the set with the three wise men and the baby Jesus that a wise man held. "Lemme borrow this." Spinning it in between her fingers, she swung it down against one of the Ammut's heads and jumped back. _I really wish I have that tracker thing and a gun right now..._ Some of the people that caught a glimpse of her took off running, screaming 'HellGirl' as they ran. Agitated by this, May used her anger to try and keep the two monsters fended off, drawing their attention away from the many humans that were running in horror. _Dad and the rest must have gotten a call by now to get here or something._ May swung the cane across the maw of an Ammut but when she took a step back, she tripped over something. "Arrrg, what the hell?" She started to get up but realized what she had exactly tripped on. A human body, the heart eaten clean out of the man's chest. "Holy Hell..."

Scrambling to her feet, she kept swinging the cane this way and that. She would just have to keep them occupied and off the human's until her dad and the others arrived... Right? A familiar voice then called out, or rather screamed out. _No... Cate!_ Whacking an Ammut over the skull, she spun around to see the monster who hadn't chased her earlier with Cate dangling helplessly in it's jaws. "NOOO! CAAATE!" Forgetting about the two creatures behind her, she made a beeline for Cate. Upon reaching her, she used all the strength she had and kicked the large beast to the side so that Cate fell lifelessly out of its mouth. "Cate! Cate, c'mon! Hang in there!" May scooped her only friend into her arms and felt her pulse. It was slow and faint. "No! Cate, hang in there!" Cate's eyes opened halfway as she tried to speak. "Cate, don't say anything. Just try and rest. Your gonna be okay..." Cate just smiled slightly, "It's okay... It doesn't hurt anymore..." Her chest then heaved upward and she sucked in one last, strained breath before she sunk again, cold and lifeless. "NO! CATE!" The red demon felt her friends pulse. Gone. "CAAATE!" Tears fell from May's brown eyes and down her red cheeks.

Laying Cate down on the ground, she moved her hand over her eyes to close them and stood. Her fists clenched but she kept her face to the ground. They had killed her one and only friends... They were going to pay. May looked up, raven strands sticking to her dirty, tear stained face. Her deep brown eyes flickered and glared ahead at the three Ammut's who were all heading for her, the only live one within the park. Blue flames started to spiral from her fists as anger and pure rage built up within her. Her eyes flickered with pure hate and turned a startling yellow. "You..." Gritting her teeth, she screamed and ran face first into the small group of creatures. They surrounded her and ripped and tore at her red flesh, blood pouring off onto the slightly snow covered ground. May growled and screamed, punching at the monsters furiously to try and get them off of her, but to no avail. Then the blue flames shot from her hands until blue fire covered her entire body. With one last burst of energy, fire shot off around her until all three Ammut's were nothing but ash. When the fire subsided, May staggered and tried to focus on the figure in front of her. The same figure she had seen in the museum about a month ago. "You... Bastard... I'll kill... you..." The demon reached her red hand out to try and grab at whatever it was but her body failed. Eyes rolling backwards, she collapsed in the pool of her own blood that coated the ground. _I'll get him... I'll kill him... Anubis..._ May's head fell to the side and her eyes closed, her bloody hand clutching the bead necklace Cate had made for her.

---

HellBoy let out a long, heavy sigh as he peeked into his daughter's room. It had been over a week after her only friend, Cate had been killed and she still refused to say anything, even to him. It was very unlike his daughter to stay quiet for so long. Though... He couldn't blame her. When his father had died, he remained quiet for at least three days. The only time she snuck out was to over look Cate's funeral as it took place. Shaking his head, the large demon just turned and started to head back to his room. "Still nothing?" HellBoy jerked his head up to see a rather downcast Hadly pushing a cart of food towards May's room. He just looked at the man with heavy eyes and shook his head before heading back to his room. The young man's brow sunk as he watched HellBoy leave and continued to push the cart to May's room.

"May?" Pushing the large door open, he almost jumped as he saw the demon child sitting at her computer desk, staring at a lit up screen blankly. "May..." Hadly pushed the cart further in, letting it stand next to her bed as he bent down to get to head level with May. "Are you okay?" Pulling her chair towards him lightly, he jumped as the red teen leaped into his arms and began to bawl on his shoulder. Her bandaged arms were locked around the young man's neck as if she never wanted to let go. It took what seemed like hours for Hadly to react. "Oh May..." Placing his hand around her and one hand on the back of her head, he pressed her close to him. "It's okay, let it all out..." May continued to cry her heart out as Hadly laid his forehead on her raven hair. Once the demon child was finished crying, she merely lay in Hadly's arms, as if she never wanted to let go. The world was just too cruel to look at anymore. But there was one last thing she had to do... Avenge Cate's death.

Pulling away from Hadly, she looked up into his deep brown eyes. "Hadly... We need to find where Anubis went." The young man was drawn aback. "Anubis? What does he have to do with it?" May stood and sat down at her computer, grasping the mouse in her red hand and opening up several windows. "All this time I haven't just been rotting away. I've been planning my revenge. Those assholes won't get away for what they did." Hadly started to scold her for using foul language, but kept his mouth shut. Now was not a time to correct her. She was right. Even though he didn't personally know Cate, or how much May loved the one friend she had on the outside, he perfectly understood. Standing, he kneeled next to her and stared at the screen. "Wow... You've done your homework." The several windows held all kinds of information about Anubis, the creatures know as Ammut, and all sorts of plans she had made herself. "The last thing I saw before I fell unconscious was Anubis. There was no mistaking it. The God of the Underworld who weighed the hearts to see which were worthy of the afterlife. The ones who didn't weigh up were feed to Ammut, the hippo/ lion/ crocodile creature that attacked the museum and the park that night..." May started to shiver recalling the Christmas party gone dreadfully wrong, but caught herself.

Not shortly after explaining her reasoning to Hadly, she sent him off to gather the others up and meet her in the library where volumes and volumes of literature were stored on all paranormal and spiritual happenings. It was also the room where Abe was kept in a large tank. Most of the men Hadly told were utterly surprised to hear about May. She had been completely silent for over a week and now suddenly she had some excellent plan for revenge? That and the fact she was only a teenager. Most of the men, even though they didn't think much of it, went to meet in the library anyway. HellBoy, however had a totally different reaction. _This situation is all too familiar... When father died, this is exactly what happened. I wanted revenge. But this time what if it doesn't work out? What if my daughter has to risk her life?_ He swallowed as he made his way to the library with Hadly in tow. _Then again, she'll do anything for revenge and I'll have to be there to protect her._

Once most of the men, HellBoy, and Abe were in the library, they turned their attention to May, who was pacing the room and gathering all sorts of reading material from the large shelves of books. Getting everything she needed, she slammed the books down on the large oak table in front of her, making most of the men either jump or give her an odd look. This had to be the most serious look May had ever worn. "Alright. I think I know what's going on with the whole Anubis, Ammut thing." Her brown eyes glared upward at the men and she leaned on the table. "The last thing I saw before I passed out a few weeks ago was Anubis. That I'm certain. Now according to this-"The red teen snatched a rather thick book from the stack she had acquired and opened it to page with both Anubis and Ammut pictured. "Anubis is the one who weighs the hearts of the pharaohs to see if they're worthy of the afterlife. If they are, the go to heaven. If not, Ammut the hippo ended, lion fronted, crocodile headed monster eats the heart if it proves to be unworthy." May moved her fingers across the page, indicating who and what she was talking about. "At the Christmas party, I noticed that some of the people there had their hearts eaten out and ONLY they're hearts, nothing else. The rest of the people were merely mauled in random fashion. I believe that they only ate the hearts of the unworthy and merely killed the worthy ones. Why they killed the worthy, I still don't know. I'm thinking some sort of power source."

This caught HellBoy's attention, "Power source? What would they need power for?" At this point, the demon child snatched another book off of her pile and skimmed the pages. Upon finding what she wanted, she set the book down on top of the other one and turned it so the others could see. "For this. This was the only thing missing from the museum after Anubis awoke and attacked it." May pointed to an urn that had hieroglyphics written along the sides. "The urn was said to hold the key to reviving all the other Egyptian Gods. If this is true and Anubis stole it, I believe that he might be trying to gather worthy souls to help him unlock the door which unlocks the spirits of the Egyptian Gods." The demon child stood up and folded her arms, waiting for her father to speak up since she had a feeling he would probably be wanting to speak up right about... Now. "So Anubis is using an army of Ammut's the gather worthy souls of the living and devouring the unworthy ones while he's at it. Once he gets enough power from the souls, he'll some how open a door to let all the other Egyptian Gods out of imprisonment so they can rule over the land like the did before..." HellBoy paused and put his hand to his chin as he looked up to his daughter. "So where is this door located anyway?" May smirked, "I thought you'd never ask..."

"Alright, so we have to get to Egypt, seal Anubis and his army of Ammut's back where they came from and get out in one piece, right?" HellBoy lifted his shoulders to adjust his large, leather trench coat. "Shouldn't be that hard, right?" Garett rolled his eyes and let out a heavy sigh as he cocked his gun. "Whatever you say, Red." May walked out of her room, clad in a battle outfit she had apparently made herself earlier for missions and such. "Alright, lets kick some Egyptian ass." Pulling up on one of her gloves, she snatched a gun off her dresser and turned to Hadly, who was leaning against the doorway. "Well, how do I look?" The demon child grinned and stroke a pose. Hadly's left eye twitched, "Awesome, can we get with the others now?" May huffed and stormed forward, grabbing her caretaker by the collar and dragging him forward with her. Hadly choked and quickly got in step with May, sputtering for her to let go the whole way to the large garbage truck that was waiting outside.

"It's going to be hard trying to get past the borders." HellBoy growled as his head made contact with the top of the crate him and his daughter were riding in. "How come? Don't they know The B.P.R.D exists?" May was on her back; legs leaned up against the wall of the crate as she stared at the top. "Of course not, only the United States government knows about it. If everybody knew, then it wouldn't be a secret." HellBoy rubbed the top of his head and looked down at his daughter. "Ohhhh, I see now... Were all a secret?" May winced as the pickup truck lugging the large crate with both of them inside hit a bump, causing her head to slam against the wood on the bottom. "You two doin' okay back there?" Hadly's voice rang out on the communicator latched onto May's belt. The demon snatched it up and pressed the button on the side before speaking into it. "That's a big no-no, ten four, one niner." May grinned, giggling at the long awkward silence at the other end of the communicator. "... Yeah. What?" Hadly raised and eyebrow, glancing over to Garett who was driving the pickup and also snorting at Hadly's look and May's remarks. "It means no. Can you slow down at least a little bit so I don't have a concussion by the time we get there?" The teen frowned at the portable walkie-talkie in her hand. "Sorry, Red princess. Gotta keep up the speed if were to make it in time."

May twitched as HellBoy snorted and let out a deep chuckle. "Red princess, that's a good one." The small demon child just stuck her tongue out at her large father and flicked an imaginary rock at his forehead. "So how are we gonna get past the boarder anyway?" May sat up and pulled her knees to her chest, hugging them tightly so they wouldn't separate from her body during all the bumps and holes the pickup truck hit. "Well, it's probably going to be the hardest part of this mission. We can't let them know who we are, so-"HellBoy was cut off as May's walkie talkie gave a loud ring. "Were coming up to the toll, get ready and tell us when you're hidden." Hadly's voice cut off abruptly before May could ask any more questions. "Well, when you ask I suppose you get an answer." The large demon lifted his daughter up with his large, brick like hand and pulled the floorboard up with his free hand. Stepping inside a narrow opening, he lay down and set his daughter directly on top of his chest. "So we have to hide?" HellBoy merely nodded and snatched the floorboard once more before resting it on top of both of them. "Ready." Switching the walkie-talkie off, he moved around until May had as much room as she could get... Which wasn't that much at all. The demon child gasped and pressed herself tighter between her father and the wooden board above her. "I can't... breath..." The hidden compartment had just been made to hide HellBoy, not him and his daughter. Luckily she was rather small and thin for her age. The demon reached his red hand up and placed two fingers on May's mouth to keep her from breathing too hard or speaking.

The small demon child could hear muffled conversing in another language immediately after they stopped. What would happen if they found them? Then again it wasn't like they were armed with machine guns and had an army waiting over the sand dunes... Right? May started to shudder but was stopped once she felt her father's free arm move from her lips to pat her cheek. The crate they were in then started to be hit with what seemed like sticks or touched and prodded as the people at the toll inspected it. It seemed like forever before the banging and conversing stopped. The pickup then began to move again but whenever May started to push on the wood above her, HellBoy immediately stopped her. Then finally, the walkie-talkie rang out. "Were clear, nice job guys." May jumped at the chance and lifted the floorboard, sitting cross-legged on her father's chest. Taking in a deep breath, she rolled to the side and flopped on the floor as the demon underneath her stood up. "Jeeze, thought I was gonna pass out in there!" May was lifted off the ground once more as her father replaced the floorboard. "You guys need to make that thing bigger."

The pickup and the black car in front of them drove on for hours until they stopped again. Having used HellBoy's large, brick hand as a makeshift pillow, May snorted and rolled into the opposite wall once the pickup stopped and let out a growl. Rubbing her head, she sat up, still half asleep. "Nnnn, we there yet?" HellBoy opened one side of the crate, stepping out into the dark, Egyptian night. May shivered and peeked outside. "Why'd we stop? Camping for the night?" The large demon snorted and lifted his daughter off the back of the truck. "Not likely, we just can't take the trucks any further. We'll have to go by camel and foot from here on." The teen paused, _Camel?_ Giving a huge grin, she spotted a number of camels. Most were set up to carry large guns and other such equipment. Two were set up for riding. "Which ones mine?!" May let out a squeal and ran over to pat the lead camel on the nose, petting up and down it's brow and muzzle like a horse.

After getting everything set up, May was placed on a camel with Hadly and another man was on the camel in front of them. It wasn't long until the small demon had quickly fallen asleep, arms wrapped around her caretaker's waist to keep her from sliding off the camel's one large hump. HellBoy walked behind them, his hand clenching the camel reigns tightly. Most of the men were on foot leading the camels with equipment as they walked. It was true May was getting pampered, but that was probably because she was the youngest and the only female on the whole mission. Plus, she had been the one who had gotten the whole trip going. Hadly smiled down at the small teen as she slept. He had grown to love the little red ball of terror. He recalled the first time he was assigned to take care of her...

May was only about 14 years old when Hadly had been assigned to be HellGirl's caretaker. It turned out to be nothing like he expected. "You know HellBoy, right?" Hadly blinked at Sam, the young girl's current caretaker. "Well... Yeah, but I didn't think he was really real." The 21-year-old man shivered, remembering the encounter with the legendary HellBoy just a few moments ago. Sam snorted and opened up the door leading to May's room. Before a word could be said, a small suction dart shot out and stuck directly to Hadly's forehead. The young man screamed and fell back in surprise. A small, red child stood at the doorway, dart gun in hand. "Heeeey, your not Sam!" The older caretaker laughed and snatched the gun from the girl's red hand. "I thought we got that away from you. You sneaky little thing." May frowned but quickly drew her attention to the man on the floor, leaned up and staring at her from his position on the floor. Crawling over, the small demon yanked the suction dart from Hadly's forehead and smiled. "Hello! I'm May, who're you?" Sam made his way into the small room that was May's and gathered up the darts that were stuck on the walls. "That is Hadly. He'll be your new caretaker, okay?" The demon child shifted her gaze to her former caretaker and frowned. "W-What? What about you?" Sam smiled half-heartedly. "Sammie's getting' a little old, hun." Hadly had stood up and moved so that Sam could get past him. Not much later, Sam had died of a heart attack. May was devastated and at times even blamed her caretaker for Sam's death. They then quickly became extremely close and have been friend ever since. Hadly was sort of her older brother of sorts.

Hadly shook the thoughts from his mind and let out a yawn. "Hey." The young man jumped and turned his head to look back at HellBoy. "Take care of my little girl when I'm not around. Your all she's got." The large demon gave him a slight smile from his position behind him. "Of course. I'll protect her with my life." Hadly put his hand on May's head. "No need to worry..." Not too much longer they arrived at The Valley of the Kings. After setting up camp, they all turned in to get some sleep. They would probably head in sometime tomorrow evening.

"Hey May, wake up!" Hadly peeked into her tent and snatched the blankets off of her sleeping form to get her up. The red demon let out a growl that was muffled by the pillow, which was firmly planted under her face. "C'mon, we have to start getting ready to head in. I know your more anxious then anyone else here." May let out a loud yawn and sat up, still in the clothes she had been wearing the day before. "I'm up. I'll be dressed and ready in a minute." The caretaker smiled and shut the drape of her tent before heading off to get ready himself. The small teen let out another yawn and reached for a bag she had brought with her. _I'll kill Anubis for what he did... And send him to an eternity of imprisoned solitude._ She let out a growl and opened up the bag, which kept all of her equipment, and the outfit she had made for the mission. May slipped off her clothes and put on a pair of skater shorts, a tank top, a hooded cloak, gloves, and combat boots that reached to her shin. Finally, she stood and snapped her belt, communicator, gun, and bullets latched onto it. "Ready." The demon stepped from her tent and headed to the largest tent that had been set up for the meeting before they charged into the underground pyramid they believed held the key.

"Alright, were not sure if Anubis is already in there so we have to be careful. Also, this pyramid might be riddled with traps. We'll try and stick together the best we can. If we get split up, try and stay as close to others as possible." HellBoy loaded his gun and stuck it in his halter after finishing his speech. Most of the men were doing the same. "Lets go." The large demon stormed out of the tent, May following directly behind. Upon reaching the hidden entrance, everyone drew they're guns and followed each other inside. "Jesus, it's like a maze in here..." Hadly looked along the walls with his flashlight, silently admiring the hieroglyphics that lined the walls. "Yeah, they designed it so that robbers would die trying to steal from the mummies." May looked back at her caretaker, flashlight pointed at her father's large bulk in front of her. "See anything, Daddy?" HellBoy paused, causing everyone to try to keep from running into each other. "Theirs a split... Since we need to find out where Anubis is, we'll have to split up into two teams." The red teen started to shiver, knowing she would have to part from her father. At this time she wished Abe had been able to come along, but he would have died in such a hot environment even with the equipment used to keep him out of water for long periods of time. That way they could just tell which direction Anubis was.

It was decided shortly that HellBoy, Garett, and two others would go to the right and May, Hadly, and three others would go to the left. Hadly forced himself past May so he would be first, despite her wishes. The group of five seemed to be walking on forever and getting nowhere. Finally, Hadly spoke up. "Maybe this is just a dead end hallw-"He was cut short as he stepped on a loose brick and a sharp spike shot from the wall, slitting across the outside of the young man's stomach. Hadly fell back, May immediately caught in May's arms who drug him back as another spike shot through the floor and in between his feet. Hadly clenched his stomach, blood smearing onto his palm. "Danm... Luckily it only grazed me." A thin, slanted cut bleed showed under the sliced shirt that Hadly was wearing. After patching the wound up the best they could, they looked to the problem at hand. The hallway ahead of them was riddled with hundreds of spikes shooting out in every direction. "Were gonna have to crawl over them one by one." May was the first to dive forward onto a spike and to start crawling her way through them. As she neared the end, one of the spikes sliced through her arm causing her to yelp. Ignoring it, she went the whole way through before whipping the blood from her arm. "Okay, now you guys come through and bring the equipment with you."

Once all the men had reached the other side, one of the men lead the way even though May still thought she should. "Big Red said we have to protect you above all else, so that's what were doing." The red teen let out a heavy sigh and looked down at the small purple light glowing on her belt that kept track of her location. It wasn't long before they stumbled onto another trap. This time the floor opened up and the leading man fell into the pit, getting caught on tons of spikes at the bottom. It wasn't long until only Hadly and May were left, each person getting caught by numerous traps. The small demon's eyes were brimmed with tears. Her father had seen to much death and now his daughter was experiencing the same thing. This wasn't the job she'd thought it'd be. _I wonder how Daddy is doing..._ May's eyes went to the ground, _I hope he's okay..._

HellBoy and his group had had the same fate at May's. Only HellBoy, Garett, and one other man had survived the traps set for them. The large demon paused and pressed his ear to try and contact his daughter. "May? May do you read?" The demon child stopped abruptly and snatched the back of Hadly's coat to force him to stop. "Dad's calling!" May pressed the communicator in her ear. "Yeah Dad. I can hear you but it's faint. The walls must be blocking the signals." HellBoy nodded, "How is your team? Is everyone still okay?" The small teen paused and the hallway was in silence until May finally got it together to reply. "No, only Hadly and I are left and he's got a wound on his torso." The large demon winced, picturing his daughter only having Hadly to protect her and all the other men that had died. "What about you? ... Daddy?" HellBoy snapped out of it to reply. "Only Garett, Victor, and I are left." May could feel tears start to well up behind her eye sockets but quickly put them at bay. "Did you find anything?" She could hear her father sigh on the other end of the communicator. "Nope. You?" Her heart sank, "Nothing. I'll keep in touch." After both said their goodbyes, May looked back at Hadly who patted her shoulder. "Your dad'll be fine... He's a strong one." The small demon tried to nod and give a weak smile as both of them continued on.

The two continued on in silence until it was abruptly broken by a slight rumble. "That... Doesn't sound good..." Hadly stopped and pointed his flashlight forward. "What's... RUN!" Hadly grabbed May's hand before she had time to react and started to take off in the opposite direction. A large boulder rolled after them at full speed directly behind them. The demon let out a cry and ran faster. "What is this?! An Indiana Jones movie?!" Both of them ran until Hadly spotted a small source of light peeking out from one of the rocks on the wall ahead of them. _That it! It's our only hope!_ Hadly brought May to his side and pressed her tightly to him before slamming his shoulder into the wall where the source of light shown. The wall suddenly spun around and both landed face first into the hard ground on the other side just as the large boulder rolled past on the other side of the wall. The red demon reached for her head and coughed. "Ow..." She then realized she was in a brightly lit room with tons of decorations. "W-Where are we...?"

May looked over to Hadly who was leaned against a wall gripping his right shoulder and gritting his teeth and quickly crawled over to him. "What wrong?!" The caretaker gave her a weak smile. "It's nothing... I just hurt my shoulder ramming into the wall..." Glaring, the teen inspected his shoulder. "It's broken. You should stay here and I'll go find Anubis. I'm pretty sure he should be somewhere in here." Hadly, even though in extreme pain, glared at her and stood. "Yeah, right." May huffed and both of the looked at their surroundings. "It looks like Anubis has to be around here somewhere..." The demon child looked left and right until her caretaker snatched her shoulder with his working arm and forced her down so both were hidden. May's rear crashed on the hard ground and she started to yelp in protest but was silenced by Hadly's palm over her mouth. Both peeked above the block they hid behind and sure enough, Anubis was approaching a large alter like door.

The demon child breathed in deeply, moving one of her boots back, colliding with a small rock which make slight noise as it rolled back. May flinched and looked up to see Anubis turn his maw and sniff in her direction. Raising his hand, four Ammut's appeared out of thin air and started to lumber towards the block that Hadly and May were using as cover. Both of them sank lower, falling on their rears with their backs pressed against the cold concrete. The caretaker then looked to the demon child, "Call your father on the communicator if you can. I'll deal with these." Before May could protest on how stupid an idea that was, the young man spun around the block and began shooting wildly at the Ammuts who continued to charge at him. The demon child screamed as she could hear Hadly cry out. Quickly she grabbed her communicator and tried her best to reach her father. _Come on... Come on!_ HellBoy paused, putting a finger to the earpiece of his communicator. "May? May is that you?" Her could make out something in his daughter's voice. She was panicking and screaming something about Hadly. "Hadly! Found... Ammuts! ... Anubis!" The com then fuzzed out. The large demon took in a deep breath, trying to stay calm. He had to find some sort of way to get to his daughter...

May tried to best to keep from crying as the com fuzzed out. Quickly, she threw it on the ground and rolled out from her hiding place, pulling her gun from its halter as she did so. Getting on one knee, she began shooting at the large creatures that were surrounding her caretaker. As the Ammuts backed off a bit, Hadly fell to the ground just long enough for May to grab his collar and yank him to safety behind the block they had hidden behind earlier. Most of his shirt had been ripped off; revealing his blood covered flesh with hundreds of bruises and open wounds. Three claw marks bleed across Hadly's face causing him to close his eye in a desperate attempt to keep the blood out. The red demon held her caretaker's face in her red hands, tears streaming down her face. "Hadly, you dumbass! You better stay alive or I'll hate you!" The young man just gave her a weary smile before falling limp in her arms. May quickly felt his pulse before setting him against the block. _He's still alive... But I don't know for how long..._

Raven locks covered the red teen's face, as she looked down, kneeled before Hadly. "You won't... Won't..." She clenched her blood-covered hands into fists before slamming the ground. "I WON'T LET YOU KILL ANYONE ELSE!" Leaping up, she came down on one of the Ammut's foreheads with the heel of her boot before spinning around until the four creatures surrounding her toppled over, front legs kicked out from under them. Standing, she began to use the strength she never thought she had and started to snap the monsters jaws and legs at every chance they leapt at her. But of course, no matter how many times she killed then they would merely get back on their feet. May continued the same routine the best she could until six Ammuts surrounded her and smothered her in their immense weight. In a futile attempt, the demon child tried to use her arms to cover her face only to have her arms ripped to shreds by the massive claws that kept coming down to strike her at every possible chance they got. _I'm going to die here... I'm going to fail... Cate and Hadly aren't going to get revenge..._ May's eyes popped open to reveal a startling yellow exactly like her fathers. _No... I'm not going to let them kill me. It's not over yet... I can't leave dad alone..._ With one last bit of energy, her entire body burst into blue flames. _I'm not going to die!_ Her body spasmed as the fire radiating off of her shot out and covered the entire room, burning anything that got in her path...

**A month later...**

_Apparently I had whipped out all the Ammuts with the fire blast I gave off before I fainted and only had wounded Anubis. While I was out, Dad had found us and somehow had sealed Anubis away. It took me three days to wake up and took Hadly about a week. I'm glad he's okay but has to take leave from The B.P.R.D until he recovers. I went to visit him the other day and he looked like... Well, shit to be blunt. They said he'd recover fully so I don't really have to worry. But I feel bad that he has to wear those three long claw scars across his face just so that I could get revenge. Of course, he denies all fact that it was my fault and we always end up arguing over it. He always wins. Heh... When I came to I could barely remember anything from the point of where I started the fire. I guess I have Mom to thank for the little gift she unwillingly passed down to me. I still can't force myself to start the fire or anything; it just seems to come as a last resort. The funny thing, though? My right eye stayed yellow even after I woke up. It's kinda like you can tell I'm half of my Mom and half of my Dad when you look into each of my eyes. Heh, sorry I guess... Getting too mushy. In the end, I think everything that happened had a purpose... Now I just have to figure out what it was._

May closed the small red diary to where it showed 'HellGirl' written in black letters on the front cover and looked out over the city of New York from the top of The B.P.R.D building. The black shirt she wore adorned the logo for the building itself as she pushed herself to a standing position with a painful grunt. Despite everyone's wishes, she had ventured out with all her injuries to the roof. Placing one foot on the edge, she looked over the city once more. Her raven hair swept behind her like black silk strings and over her differently coloured eyes. "Saften your seat belts, New York City... HellGirl's keeping an eye on you..."


	2. Magician of the new Millennium

**HellGirl – Magician of the new Millennium**

_Part 1_

The newly proclaimed HellGirl lay in her bed, arms folded under her head as she stared directly up into the ceiling. She had fully recovered from her last incident just a few weeks ago but she was still monitored by a select few people to make sure she didn't sneak out. May tossed and turned restlessly on her bed before stopping at a position where she was finally comfortable... If you could call it that. Her feet were propped up on her pillow, her hands rested on her stomach, and her head hanging from the side of her bed. Letting out a heavy sigh, she used her tail to curl around the remote and click the on button before staring at the screen. The news. Wonderful. The red demon stared at the television screen as an oriental news reporter came into view.

"Once again the thief who calls himself The Black Magician stroke again. Stealing an old context from the New York museum. As many may know, The Black Magician claims to be a sort of gentleman thief and only steals after alerting the police when he's going to do so and will always return the object a few days after stealing it. No one knows who this strange man is, but the police force can never seen to catch him. As with all the other attempts by almost everybody. It seems The Black Magician will continue to plague New York City until someone can unmask this horrible, yet entertaining thief magician." A picture of the thief then popped onto the screen and immediately caught May's attention. It looked like a teenage boy around her age. Wearing a black cape, tuxedo, and top hat, the final touches like under the cape and the shirt under the tux were all a bright red. The most interesting thing about him though was his face. A skull mask covered the top of his face so that only his mouth and right eye showed. His short black hair was sort of over the front of his mask and the back was pulled into an extremely tiny ponytail.

May seemed to stare into the one blue eye that stood out from the rest of his disguise. _I know I've seen him somewhere before..._ Her eyes narrowed as she continued to stare until the picture was taken off the air and the weather forecast started. "I think he was at Cate's school..." She then regretted thinking such a thing._ ... Cate... _The demon looked down, which was actually looking up since her head was still hanging from the side of her bed.

A cough came from the door followed by a soft knock. "May?"

"YEAAAAAH!" The red demon flailed until she fell clear off the bed, head first. "What, Hadly?" May glared ahead before rolling over and rubbing the top of her head with her red hand.

"Your dinner is here." Hadly, May's caretaker rolled in a steel cart with a bag on it. "I got you something special today." The demon looked up at him and wondered how he could be as strong as he was... Emotionally, anyway. Even after all they had been through and he always had the three scars across his face to remind him of it, he was still all smiles every time he was around her.

"Really? What'd ya get me?" May sat up on the edge of her bed and peeked in the bag, letting out a gasp. "CHINESE!" The demon reached her hands in to pull out a Chinese box filled with rice before taking out a few other things. "Ah! Hadly, I love you." Reaching up, she wrapped her arms around his neck before placing a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you!" Hadly gave her a warm smile and some chopsticks before heading out so that May could enjoy her meal.

Once she had finished, the red teen laid back on her bed as she had been before and looked over to her sleeping cat, Zippy. "Your such a lazy kitty." Patting him on the head, she rolled back over. Tomorrow, right after school, she would go to Cate's school and wait until she saw that boy come out of the building to determine what she thought. The few times she had gone out in the daylight had been to watch Cate from afar as she walked home with her little group of friends. Human's lives were so simple and free... And they didn't even notice. None of them would really ever feel what she felt day in and day out. The longing to just walk along the streets without getting odd looks or someone screaming. But no... Humans were too judgmental and only saw what was on the outside. May's eyes narrowed as she continued to think. Cate had been her only human friend outside of The B.P.R.D and she wasn't able to protect her... HellGirl's mood then switched from anger to sorrow as he eyes narrowed even further. But this time it was because of tears. Rolling to her side, she curled into a ball on top of her bed and started to cry. _I couldn't protect her..._

May awoke later the next day, her face and pillow smelling of salt from her tears the night before. Stands of her raven hair stuck to her face until the demon stood and combed out her hair and got in her bathrobe and slippers before walking from her room. Some of the suited men that worked there gave her strange looks, almost stopping to ask her what was wrong. But anybody who was anybody already knew. Ever since the day May awoke from the three days of rest after the long trip from Egypt, she had often cried herself to sleep over the loss of her friend. No one she knew could relate to her. No one. Not even her father who had practically already lost his wife. But the teen had felt that pain with him since she was loosing a mother. A mother and a best friend. No one she knew had to deal with both.

The small demon child tugged on the handle to the bathroom only to find it locked. Surprised, she knocked. "Hello?"

"What?!" HellBoy's voice rang out above the sound of water coming from the showerhead. Of all the times he chose to be clean it was when she wanted to take a shower.

May made a fist and pounded on the door. "You had to pick to get clean NOW, stinky?!" She could almost feel her father roll his eyes and glare at her.

"I'll be out in a second!"

May waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, she went to pound on the door again. "Toda-" Her red fist made contact with her father's stomach. She looked up and gave him a huge, fake grin. "Howdy!"

HellBoy rolled his eyes and shook his head before grabbing one of May's horns and moving her to the side in one quick motion. Slowly he lumbered to his room, raising his hand in a waving gesture back to his daughter. "Go morning, sleepy!"

The demon child glared at his large frame. "Horns are off limits when you wanna get rid of me, y'know!" It had been an unspoken rule ever since she was little and tried to play the bongos on her father's horns. He didn't scold her for not cutting her horns off and she didn't mess with the two round circles on his forehead that he kept filed down. Her glare then turned to a smile as she went inside the bathroom. She couldn't remember one time where he had yelled at her or actually hurt him with her jokes and the same went with her. It was probably because all they really had was each other and both of them were well... So danm alike in some ways.

HellGirl stripped and slid into the shower before turning on the hot water. Unlike most showers, there were more hot settings after the world hot. Since neither heat nor fire bothered either her or her father, they could never actually burn themselves. Thus, the bathroom was worse then a sauna when either of them stepped out. May snatched a bar of soap that was on one of the ledges in the bathtub and used it to wash down her horns before sticking it on top of the point. Doing the same with another bar of soap, she looked up to watch the soap bubbles drip down her long red horns onto her forehead.

Maybe she should file her horns down like her father. They were getting pretty lethal if you really thought about it. May stood in front of the fogged mirror and whipped the cloud away so she could see herself. After awhile of looking at her horns, face, and the like, she got dressed. Most of the shirts she wore now had The B.P.R.D's logo on it in some place on the front. After her first mission over a month ago she had been made an official member to go on the missions with Abe and her father. Slinging her bathrobe over her shoulder, the red demon made her way out of the bathroom. A cloud of steam poured from the doorway the very second the door was opened. On her way back to her room, she spotted Hadly rounding a corner and ran to catch up with him. Like always, he was pushing a steel cart with food on it.

"Yo, Hadly!" May set in tow with him and he paused to look back at her before continuing to roll the cart to her room.

"Hey, May. Just get out of the shower?" He smirked, looking at the towel that sat on top of her head with her hair wrapped up in it like a turban.

"Yep! Had to wait a little while because stinky was taking up the bathroom."

"I heard that!" May flinched and looked back to see her father passing the hallway both her and Hadly were walking down. She stuck out her tongue and waved to him, turning around only after he had waved back.

"What's this? Lunch?" May looked over the pie looking thing on the tray.

"Yup. Sorry it's a bit late. Had some... business to attend to." Hadly looked away from her and his smile turned slyer. May's grin broadened.

"You've gotta giiiirlfriend!"

Hadly's left eye began to spasm, only proving her suspicions. "Ha! I knew it! Your so easy, Hadly." Her caretaker let out a sigh before nodding reluctantly.

"Yeah, but don't tell anyone or all the guys will start teasing me." May blinked in confusion.

"Why? Because they can't get one?" They both arrived at May's room and she opened up the door so Hadly could wheel in the cart and park it next to her bed like usual.

"No, no... It's just a guy thing I guess."

May stared at him for a moment before nodding slowly. "I seeeeeee...."

"Anyway, chicken pot pie for lunch. It's not much but as you know I was short on time." He then reached below the cart and handed her a bag of Doritos. "Here, just in case that's not enough you can snack on these."

May smiled before picking at the potpie with her fork. "Thanks Hadly. I won't tell anyone about your girlfriend."

Hadly smiled and started to leave the room, only stopping to pat May on the head. "Thanks, Red princess." He then left, cart in hand.

May nibbled on her potpie until she caught a glance at the clock. "Oh crap! It's already 2:30!" Scrambling, she put on her beanie, scarf, gloves, and boots and started towards the vent just outside her room she constantly used before pausing to grab some Doritos and shove them into her mouth. In a red blur the demon child was already up the vent before anyone could see her. May crawled out of the last vent and tried to use her hand to shield the blinding sun from her eyes. She really, really hated going out in the daytime. It made her feel so... Vulnerable. Shuddering, she slipped between the gates and headed onto the rooftops.

The red teen slid to a stop once she reached the school roof and peeked over the edge. She had made it just in time. A loud bell rang out and tons of students poured out of the two large doors in the front of the high school. May scanned every male student until she found the one she had been looking for. Of course she had no idea what his name was but he just HAD to be The Black Magician. The same hair, the same eyes, everything. The demon wondered why humans were so blind to the obvious.

Then something unexpected happened. The boy turned around and stared directly in May's direction. Panicking, she abruptly dove downward until she was in hiding. How had he known she was there? That was that. He had to be The Black Magician. HellGirl smirked from her laying position on the warm concrete underneath her. She'd follow him home. Wait... What was she thinking? Follow him home? In no means did she want to stalk the kid... Then again he was a thief. May continuously weighed everything before deciding she'd follow him... Just for the helluvit. That was all.

After what seemed like ages, the boy finally went to an apartment building and didn't come out. May breathed a sigh of relief before leaping over onto the building's roof and sat down. Hopefully no one would come up and spot her. May closed her eyes to rest. It had been a long while she snuck out and did so much strenuous activity. It wasn't long until she accidentally fell asleep leaned up against the edge of the building.

"Y'know, you shouldn't fall asleep on other people's roves." The voice startled May as she leapt up into a crouch. The boy she had been following was standing next to her and looking out over the street in front of the apartment building he lived in. The demon child started to shake in fear. What if he had taken pictures of her while she slept and would turn them in to the Newspaper? Wearily, she stood and took a step back.

"You didn't take pictures of me did you? Or film?" The question seemed out of place in their conversation but it had to be asked for her own safety.

"Of course not. Why would I talk pictures of you?" The boy didn't bother to look at her from his position. May took it as an insult. Pictures of her? Why because she was a freak? Wait, she couldn't let that get to her. No pictures was good.

"That's surprising. Most would jump at the chance to unmask HellGirl for the freak she really is." She paused, thinking. "Or The Black Magician." The boy didn't even flinch. May took a step closer. And closer. Until she was right behind him. "I know you're the Black Magician. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. Humans are so stupid." The demon took a step back. Both of them stood in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, May gathered all her courage and broke the silence. "What's your name?"

It took the boy while to answer. "Yasashiku."

May blinked. "Sounds Japanese."

"I was born in Japan. I just exchanged here not too long ago." Yasashiku kept his eyes on the street ahead as he spoke.

"You speak English well."

"I learned it in Japan. And my parents would always come over here on business trips so I had to." Another long silence ensued and it was starting to get late. "Your names not HellGirl is it?"

May walked over to the edge of the building and looked down into the ally below. "I was never here, got it?" She then crouched, ready to leap onto the next building. "And my names May." Springing up, she began to roof hop until she was safe inside The B.P.R.D's boarders. She let out a loud sigh as she crawled through the vents. After getting out like usual, she flopped back on her bed and closed her eyes. _Maybe he's not all bad..._ For once, she didn't cry herself to sleep.

"The Werewolves Claw?" May looked up at Hadly from the laptop in front of her. "What's so special about it? Just looks like a sculpture of a werewolf claw." Her and Hadly sat in the library at a large oak table with a laptop in front of them, the caretaker standing behind her.

"Well... That's the thing. It's an actual werewolf claw. It's being shipped over from England to be put in the museum. We just have to keep it in mind because all who get even the slightest scratch by the claws turn into a werewolf."

The demon child paused before looking up at the young man. "Are you serious? Sounds like some sort of story to keep little kids from touching it or something."

"Yes, I'm serious." Hadly let out a sigh. "You of all people should be able to believe this sort of thing."

"Eh, that's true." May stared at the computer screen, leaning her elbow on the table and resting her chin in her red palm. "All we have to do is protect it... Shouldn't be that hard..."

---

"YAH!" May's leg made contact with the large punching bag once more. The bag swung side to side from the strain of every blow the teen inflicted upon its black surface. Ever since she had recovered from her injuries she had started to train like her father. Of course he usually lifted weights and the like while she chose a more agile approach. After giving the bag a good spin-kick, May took a deep breath before letting her right leg coast back to the padded floor. Sweat trickled down her forehead and off of her chin. She had been at that danm punching bag for what seemed like hours to her aching muscles. The red demon reached for her water bottle and squirted some of the cool liquid into her mouth before grabbing a towel to dab at her forehead. Ugh... She smelled like sweat. Shuddering, she headed for the door and down the hall where her room was located. She'd grab some clothes, have a nice hot shower, and be a lazy ass the rest of the day. Yeeeeah, life was good. May stretched her arms into the sky before entering her room and getting an outfit together. It was surprising that she was actually having a good day. It didn't happen frequently. The teen's grin broadened as she opened the bathroom door and got ready for a shower.

"May!" The demon child paused as she pulled her shirt over her head to look at the door. Hadly, the one who had called out her voice and knocked on the bathroom door knocked again. "Hurry up! Another mission just came up!" Quickly May jumped around until her skater pants were on before opening the door and looking up at her caretaker.

"What is it? What happened?" The small teen snatched her brush from the vanity and started to comb her hair, waiting for Hadly to explain.

"I'll explain it in your room." Hadly snatched her arm and practically pulled her to her room. "You get ready while I fill you in." May scrambled over to her dresser one they had entered her room and started to put on the usual outfit she wore to missions as the young man turned on the television and began to instruct on what the mission was all about. "You know about that Black Magician guy, right?" The red demon paused, having forgotten all about the encounter she had with Yasashiku, the boy she thought was the magician thief about a week ago.

"Yeah, I know who your talking about... Why?" May looked over her shoulder at her caretaker while pulling on her gloves.

"You also remember about The Werewolves Claw I told you about a few days ago, right?" May nodded and sat on the edge of her bed to pull on and buckle her boots. "Well..." Hadly stepped aside so he wasn't blocking the TV and turned the volume up.

A news reporter appeared on the television screen, standing just outside the New York museum holding a microphone. "Just mere minutes ago we received an anonymous tip that The Black Magician would steal the new artifact on exhibit tonight called The Werewolves Claw." The reporter continued to fill in details of The Werewolves Claw and The Black Magician and May draped on her hooded cloak and lifted her raven locks out of it's way before turning to Hadly.

"So we've gotta stop him from taking it because if he carelessly gets scratched by it, we'll have a werewolf to kill." The red teen snapped on her belt and looked up at her caretaker who was now standing at the door.

"Bingo." Both took off out of May's room towards the large garbage truck that was parked out back. HellBoy and the others had already gathered there waiting for Hadly and May. The large, red demon growled when they finally arrived, picking his daughter up and lifting her into the back of the truck.

"Took ya long enough."

"Hey, I had to run out of the shower just to get ready. Unlike **some** people, I don't go around being stinky." May smirked and her father punched her lightly in the arm.

It wasn't long until the crowd surrounding the New York museum parted to make way for the large garbage truck. May stared out of glass on the side of the truck that separated her from all the humans outside and let out a sigh before grabbing her gun and a few stun bullets. _I wonder if I should tell Dad and the others that I think I know who The Black Magician is..._ The small demon rested her hand gun inside it's halter on her belt before turning back to her father. "Shoot with only stun bullets, right?"

"Yup!" HellBoy loaded his own gun before standing. The large garbage truck pulled up to the back of the museum and the back door opened so that the B.P.R.D members could get out. Once inside the museum, all the members that were attending the mission surrounded the case that held The Werewolves Claw. May positioned herself right next to it, sitting on a chair with her legs outstretched and her arms crossed over her chest.

"Did he leave a time he was going to try and steal this thing on the note her left or whatever?" May looked through the glass case to her father's large form on the other side. HellBoy shifted his weight as he leaned on the wall behind him.

"Yeah, at about... 1am." May huffed and looked at her watch. 12:45. Wiggling in her seat, she stared at the ground until she heard her father state that everyone should look alive since it was 12:55. The red teen got to her feet and pulled her gun from its holster.

Sure enough five minutes later a round, steel ball fell from out of nowhere and landed on the tiled floor with a light clink. Smoke then began to pour out from the sphere. HellBoy and May put their arms to their faces and backed up until the smoke cleared. All of the men that had been on guard were fast asleep on the floor. _Sleeping gas. What's so magical about that?_ The red demon glared at the form that appeared out of the cloud of smoke. The Black Magician.

"Greetings, audience! It appears that I have two special guests with me tonight!" A smirk crossed his tanned features, his lone blue eye staring at HellBoy and May who were on either side of the glass case that kept The Werewolves Claw.

"May! Don't let him get the claw!" May nodded and jumped in front of the case as her father charged directly at the young magician. The Black Magician spun around just in time to avoid HellBoy's lumbering form and kicked him in the back with his foot. The large demon stumbled after not hitting his target and quickly spun around, pulling out his gun.

"Pick a card!" Before he could react a fountain of cards spewed from the magician's black sleeve. HellBoy stopped and used his large, brick arm to block the barrage. But as the cards got closer, they seemed to grow as big as he was. Even though he kept telling himself it was merely an illusion, the large cards plowed HellBoy down until he was underneath a mountain of large playing cards. The Black Magician then turned to May who was in a fighting stance.

"YAH!" May charged, pulling her gun out as she did so.

"Tut, tut! I need a lovely assistant don't I?" With a smirk, the thief pulled another sphere from his pocket and threw it at May's feet, causing her to instinctively stop and use her arms to block her face. As the smoke cleared, the purpose of the bomb was revealed.

The red teen let out an ear-piercing scream as she looked down, now wearing a skanky play bunny suit along with fake bunny ears on top of her head. Frantically she dropped her gun and blushed a bright red despite her skin colour while trying to hide her revealed skin. The Black Magician gave out a laugh, now looking down from the roof with The Werewolves Claw in hand.

"You really do make a lovely assistant, HellGirl!" With that he was off. May let out a growl, forgetting about the ridiculous outfit she was in. Quickly she snatched her gun and ran towards the back door. At that time HellBoy poked his head from the mountain of cards and looked at his daughter's fleeting form.

"Where did he go?!"

May didn't bother to look back as she exited the building. "I think I know where he's headed!"

The sparsely dressed demon leaped from building to building until she lost the magician's trail. Standing on the edge of an old abandoned apartment building, she looked over what was in front of her gun in hand. May looked down at an old shack and got an idea. Leaping down, she walked in front of the downtrodden house and looked at the ground. Sure enough there were fresh footprints in the dirt that lead to the house entrance. The teen smirked and kicked open the already broken door. The high heels she was wearing clicked every time they made contact with the broken wood that was once used as floorboards.

"I know you're in here!" May took another step and screamed as the floor gave way. The red demon tumbled down until she landed hard on her rear end on a dirt floor. Looking around she saw graffiti filled walls and old beer cans left from some party long ago.

"It's rude to drop in on me like that."

May spun her head around to see The Black Magician leaning against an old wooden table, The Werewolves Claw sitting on top of the table next to him. The teen glared back at him before pushing herself to a standing position. Her black hair was filled with wood chips and her outfit and red skin was covered in dirt from her fall. "Too bad for you that I can run in high heels." She smirked, pointing the gun at him with one hand.

The young thief raised his hands as if in defeat. "Yes. Poor me." He then looked up at her, his one blue eye glinting in the moonlight that came through the broken floorboards. "I was wondering..." He crossed his arms on his chest and stood up straight. "Why is the oh so famous HellBoy and HellGirl guarding something like this?" The magician stood to the side to reveal The Werewolves Claw.

May shifted her feet before lowering her gun. Was she aloud to give out such information? Though if she told him, he might give the claw back to her... "Because whoever gets scratched by its claws turns into a werewolf. And we really don't need a wolf thief running around the streets of New York."

"Oh really?" The Black Magician pulled off one of his black, silk gloves and looked towards May with a smirk. "And you believe that such things exist? Merely fairy tales." The demon gasped as the thief pressed his finger in to one of the sharp claws until it drew blood.

"You** idiot**!" May took a step closer before stopping once she heard the young man chuckle.

"It's rather amusing that someone as smart as you would believe in such a thing. The only creatures out of fairy tales that exists is you and your father." The magician slid his glove back on, ignoring the blood that ran down his finger. May let one hand off of her gun, arms swinging to her sides. _Were they wrong? He's not turning into a werewolf..._ Suddenly the thief fell to his knees and let out a groan. May panicked and ran to his side, leaning down next to him.

"I **told** you!" His blue eye looked up at her through the hole in the skull mask that constantly covered his face.

"It was probably just tipped with poison or something... Werewolves don't exist." May's face turned cold as she forced the thief's shoulders up until he was looking at her.

"Yes they do. Everything in fairy tales exists! I exist, vampires exist, **and** werewolves! I've even fought Anubis!" The young man just snorted before clutching his stomach in pain. "See?! I've got to get you to The B-"May paused, thinking of the consequences of taking a human into The B.P.R.D... But then again they'd have to deal with a wandering werewolf. "Ugh, fuck it." The small teen yanked off The Black Magician's cape and used it as a carrying case for the claw before looking back at the magician who was now covered in sweat. "As much as you hate it, you're coming home with me."

"What? No! I'm fine!" Despite his pain, he tried to protest as May started to pick him up. May let out a loud growl and looked around. Finding a piece of broken glass on the ground, she held it up to him.

"Nice ears, wolf boy."

"AH!" The young thief slapped the piece of glass from the demon's hand and back up against the table. "Just an illusion of the poison!" Reaching up with a gloved hand he felt his ears. Sure enough they were larger, pointed, and were covered in a little bit of black fur. "YAH!" While he was panicking, May swept him up in a piggy back and snatched the balled up werewolf claw before she started to run up the half broken stairs that lead to the first floor of the broken down building. She wouldn't be able to leap roves since she carried so much weight on her back. As May did her best to keep to the back allies, she could feel every change The Black Magician went through as she carried him.

"Don't tell anyone who I am, May..." He coughed away from her face as he used her shoulder as a chin rest.

"Ha! I knew you were Yasashiku!" Yasashiku grumbled. His top hat had fallen off a long while ago as they had started running, his ears were now on top of his head and covered in black fur. "Don't worry, you can stay with me until we find a cure or... Whatever..." May rounded a corner and stared ahead. They'd have to run across a lit street to get to The B.P.R.D that was on the other side. "Hold on, Yasashiku!" The red teen crouched before darting across the somewhat deserted street and through the bars that surrounded The B.P.R.D. "Dad!" May ran to the back where her father and the others were getting out of the garbage truck and stopped, panting. "I got The Werewolves Claw and The Black Magician."

"Well I'll be danmed..." HellBoy took the cape and opened it. Sure enough, May's gun and the claw were inside. He then directed his attention to the young man on his back, noticing his ears. "Lemme guess, the dumbass got scratched."

"Yup."

The large demon sighed before handing the possessions to Hadly, who was staring at May's outfit and ready to pop into thousands of questions. HellBoy then picked Yasashiku off of May's back and started to carry him inside. As they made their way to the medical room, Hadly once again turned to May.

"Where in the **hell** did you get that horrible outfit?"

"Huh?" May looked down, realizing she was still in the horribly revealing bunny suit. "Oh my god!" Screaming and blushing, she took off in front of everyone else and bolted to her room. The others couldn't help but laugh.

May appeared in the medical room in her usual clothes and sat on the bench next to her father. "How's dog boy?" Abe looked up from cutting off the rest of the tuxedo that had ripped when Yasashiku's body had grown larger.

"Considering the fact that he's now a werewolf, very well."

The young magician was now completely transformed. His body was coated in black hair and he looked like a classic werewolf. Yasashiku let out a growl. "How long is this going to last?" Abe blinked, tilting his head to the side.

"Well... Until we figure out how to reverse the effects."

The black werewolf moaned and put a furred arm over his eyes. HellBoy looked over to his daughter. "You should go get your new friend some clothes." May gave an evil smirk.

"He could always wear that bunny suit he made me wear." Yasashiku's visible blue eye widened as he looked over to the red demon. May just laughed before standing and running out of the room.

"How do they fit?" May peeked into her room to spot the black werewolf wearing a large olive green hoodie and khaki skater shorts with a hole cut out for his tail.

"Not bad." Yasashiku looked up at her from his position on the edge of May's bed. The only way you could tell it was still him was from his voice, eyes, and the longer black hair that was once the only hair on his head. The red demon walked over to him and patted his large shoulder.

"Don't worry. It's not that bad here..." The werewolf looked down at the ground, May let out a sigh before smiling again. "We'll find a cure for you. Can't keep your parents waiting that long, right?"

Yasashiku sat at the large oak table in the library while a pack of cards in his claws. It was harder to shuffle with his new hands then he thought it would be. Thankfully he was a pro at anything that involved cards and only shuffled slower then usual. The black werewolf propped his back paws onto the table and started to toss cards from his deck at a bowl that sat at the other end. It had been a whole week since he had become a werewolf and was forced to stay indoors and away from his home. Sure enough his parents were probably worried sick.

"Well according to the legend, the claw is from the very first werewolf that existed. So if you get scratched it's like inheriting the role. That's why you haven't gone back and forth from your human and werewolf form." May had informed him the day after he had transformed. He was expecting to wake up in his human body and would be able to go back to school and only stay in the B.P.R.D building when their were full moons. But of course, he wasn't that lucky. Yasashiku let out another sigh, tossing a card into the bowl across the table.

"Whatcha doin'?" May peeked over the werewolf's shoulder and snatched a card from the deck in his paw. Yasashiku didn't bother to look up. About the only thing good about being a werewolf were the heightened senses. He could always hear someone approach him from behind. That and his sense of smell which... Sometimes he didn't like as much.

"Bored." The black werewolf took his back paws off the table before scrunching his nose up. "You smell like sweat."

"Well, duh. That's what happens when you work out." The red demon whipped her forehead with the towel around her neck. The edges of her tank top were slightly damp with sweat as well and the bandages around her feet and hands were drenched. "Do you have a girlfriend?" May tossed the card at Yasashiku's chest.

The werewolf's ears twitched and he picked up the card to look at it. "Of course not. Love for a girl would get in the way for the love of magic." The card in his furred hand was the Queen of Hearts. Yasashiku closed his eyes and flipped the card between his fingers until is disappeared. "Why?"

May let out a yawn, walking forward before stopping and looking back at him. "It would give us a reason to get out of here. You **are** bored, right?"

"Well... Yeah." Yasashiku tossed another card at the bowl, hitting his target once more. "But won't we get in trouble?" He thought of having to deal with an angry HellBoy and a chill ran up his spine.

"Of course, but I always sneak out. Plus, I'll keep you out of sight. Lemme just take a shower." May turned and left the library towards her room, her tail swaying side to side as she walked.

The werewolf watched her leave before letting out a loud, doggish yawn. He never knew a freak's life was so... dull. He always thought it was packed with action and all that sort of crap like in comic books. His ears twitched as he thought about being in May's position. It sucked more then she let on. Then again, she was probably used to living in solitude day in and day out. Yasashiku had wanderlust, his tail draped over his chair lazily and once again he leaned back so only two legs of the chair were on the ground. Well, guess he had to wait.

May stepped out of the bathroom, comb in hand. As she brushed her raven hair, she walked back to her room. Trying to keep a werewolf hidden was going to be hard. Of course he was black so he'd blend into the shadows, which was always good. But he had grown a lot when he had transformed due to how much larger his muscles were. The teen slipped off her bathrobe and put on a regular black shirt with the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense logo on it and her usual, a pair of black skater pants. After tying her sneakers and putting on a beanie, she snatched the purple tracking device off her counter, activated it and stuck it inside her pocket. She had never ventured outside the B.P.R.D without it. In case she got hurt or if a mission turned up they could always track her down if she still had the device. May then made her way back to the library.

"Ready?"

Yasashiku looked up from the position he had been in when May had left and let out another yawn. "Sure, whatever. But how can you sneak out of a sealed up place like this?"

May blinked, thinking. She couldn't go through the vents like usual since there was no way Yasashiku could fit through the vents. "Hmmm... Guess we'll have to make a break out." The small demon gave a wicked smile before grabbing the sleeve of the werewolf's hoodie and pulling him out of the chair.

"Were breaking out by the roof exit?" Yasashiku raised a brow as he looked up at the small door in the ceiling.

"Yup! Now how did you get into all of those buildings without setting off the alarms?" May looked up at a small black box on the wall. If they merely kicked the door open then the alarm would go off.

"A magician never reveals his secrets." The black werewolf smirked as the red demon glared at him coldly.

"Fine. I'll do it my way." Yasashiku jumped and May slammed her fist into the black box and ripped off the lock before opening it and snatching all the cords. Sparks flew up and her hand began to smoke as all the cords snapped, sending sparks everywhere. The teen shook her hand beside her. "Ow, numbed me."

"Danm... You okay?" The werewolf looked down at her smoking hand.

"I'm fine. Fireproof." May smirked before pointing upward at the ceiling door. "Punch the door so the lock will break."

He looked up before glaring at May. "And break my hand?"

The demon let out a heavy sigh. "You're a werewolf now. It's not going to hurt your precious little hand." Yasashiku looked at his furred hand before making a fist and punching at the door. Sure enough, it dented and swung open. The werewolf blinked before looking at his hand. He hadn't had a chance to test out his strength since he transformed as was shocked at how strong he'd become. "Well?" Yasashiku looked up to see the small teen already out of the door and looking down at him. "C'mon!" The black wolf blinked before pulling himself out of the small door and crouching on the roof. The sun was just setting and shadows were starting to cover every inch of New York. "Lets go." May leaped off the roof followed by Yasashiku and slid through the bars of the B.P.R.D.

It wasn't long before they had arrived in Central Park and roamed the back dirt paths that weaved through the denser parts of the park. May sipped on a coffee she had stolen from a couple on a bench when they spotted while entering. Yasashiku sipped on one as well as both walked down the dirt path in silence. May looked up at her new friend and broke the silence. "So theirs no one you wanna go see?" She winced as Yasashiku snorted and looked down at the coffee cup in his hand.

"See? I'm a werewolf. I can't go spying on them or risk them seeing me." He turned his head so he was looking in the opposite direction from May. "Because I'm a freak." The red demon's eyes narrowed. She felt sorry for him. Unlike her, he wasn't used to staying in the shadows and being different from everyone else. May looked down at her feet and took a tiny sip of her coffee.

"I'm sorry... But I'm trying my hardest to find a cure." She tried to think of someway of making him feel better but can up with nothing and sighed. "... At least you have a chance of turning back into a normal guy. You always have that to look forward to." Her grip on her coffee cup tightened as Yasashiku turned to watch her. "Just think of it as a temporary gift. Use it as an advantage before your times up..." Both of the stared at the ground as they walked in silence once more.

"Well, we better get home."

May looked up to Yasashiku as she stopped. The werewolf looked back at her. "Already?"

May suppressed a slight laugh. "Hiku, it's midnight."

"... Oh." Yasashiku turned around and began to follow May back down the pathway towards the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. He just then realized had been holding an empty coffee cup and threw it in a trashcan nearby. The small demon followed his gesture and threw her's away as well. "Y'know... Maybe I'll start training with you tomarrow."

May blinked and looked back at him, red hands stuck inside her pockets. "Really?" She had been waiting for him to say that and had a surprise for him when they started. The small teen smiled slightly as both made their way back to the B.P.R.D in silence.

May let out a loud yawn as she made her way to the gym. She wondered if Yasashiku was even awake yet. As the red demon pushed the door open to the gym she was surprised to see her father spotting Yasashiku as he tried to lift a large weight on the bench press. May blinked and walked over, looking up at HellBoy. "What're you guys doin'?"

"What's it look like?" The large demon raised a brow as he set the weight back on the bar. Yasashiku sat up, panting rather then sweating. May glared up at her father before turning and walking over to a smaller room inside the gym. The small teen came back out with a long, black stick like thing and walked over to the black werewolf.

"Here. I thought you could use this." May held her hands out as Yasashiku took hold of the object.

"A katana?" May nodded.

"By the way you moved when you stole the Werewolves Claw I could tell you had to have taken some sort of martial arts class. I was thinking that maybe you could use it." Yasashiku unsheathed the sword and held it up so he could get a good look at it. The large demon snatched a towel and headed out of the gym.

"I'll leave you two lovebirds alone."

"DAD!" May screeched, blushing and chucked an empty water bottle at his head only to have it intercepted as HellBoy caught it. Grinning, he left without a word. Thankfully the werewolf was too busy admiring his new katana to hear him. The demon regained her composure before looking over to him. "So you like it?"

"Hell yeah." Yasashiku started to spin the sword through his hands and make slashing movements in the air. May smiled before turning to go to the punching bag she spent most of her time at. "Hey, May!" The teen snatched a barbell and used it to block the katana from slicing her clean down the middle.

"What the hell are you doing?!" May growled, now on the ground with only the barbell between her and the sword. Yasashiku stood and sheathed his katana before offering his paw to May.

"I wasn't going to actually hit you. Just testing your reflexes." The red teen tossed the barbell over her head and slapped his hand away before standing.

"Fucking RIDICULOUS! AUGH!" May threw her hands up before storming over to the punching bag. Yasashiku blinked, staring at the small demon as she stormed off. Why was she getting so upset over something as small as testing her reflexes? He rolled his eyes before walking to the other side of the gym. Woman. He'd never understand them.

The two trained in silence and May refused to speak to Yasashiku for what seemed like days. But when she finally did talk to him it was good news.

"Yasashiku! C'mer!" The demon called out from her room to the room next to her's where the werewolf stayed. Ears twitching, the black werewolf stood and walked to May's room.

"What? You still mad at me or something?" Yasashiku peeked in her room until the teen motioned him to sit on her bed.

"No no, not anymore." May spun around in her chair so that she was looking at her computer screen. "I think I found a cure for you!"

"What?" The werewolf's eyes widened and lit up as he stood and crouched behind her so he could look at the computer screen. "How?"

"You can find anything on the internet!" May grinned and pointed to the screen. "According to this the only cure for The Werewolves Claw is in the underground catacombs of France. The only thing we have to do is get to France, use the Werewolves Claw to locate the hidden chamber and follow these instructions!"

"What do you mean that's 'all' we have to do?" Yasashiku glared but read the instructions out loud. "Fine the chamber, drink from the fountain and bingo, I'm back to normal! That's pretty simple!" He grinned until May snorted, patting his shoulder.

"Don't get happy just yet. Once you get into the chamber the Werewolves Claw will attach itself to the statue of the very first werewolf that's in the chamber and it will come to life. The thing is it won't hurt you while your it's own flesh and blood, but the very second you turn back it will be on you like flies on shit."

"... Dammit."

May patted his shoulder. "S'ok, I've been though worse. It won't be that bad. Now we gotta tell the others." The teen spun around in her chair and dashed out of her room, pulling Yasashiku with her.

"The Werewolves Claw should guide us to the underground chamber, just hold it out and it should pull you in the right direction." May looked up to Yasashiku whom was standing next to her. It had been decided that since it was considered such a minor mission only HellBoy would accompany the two teens through the catacombs. The three stood just outside one of the many entrances to the underground graves, two large black vans were parked behind them filled with men from the Bureau just in case.

"Alright, everyone link up their locators." HellBoy announced while turning on his own red locator. May did the same followed by Yasashiku, who had been given a white locator. The three then opened the small wooden door to the catacombs and headed in. The smallest, May, was the only one who didn't have to crouch.

"At times like these, I love being short." May smirked while looking back at the two men who were crouched over. Yasashiku had taken to all fours where as her father looked like he was going to end up breaking his back due to having to bend over so far. After flipping on her flashlight, May started forward. The air was thick and musty from the thousands of dead bodies that had been tossed underground like trash. The many diseases that claimed their lives was still in the air, causing May to cough and hold her red hand over her nose and mouth. "Where to now?" The small demon paused as they came to a fork in the pathway.

Yasashiku held up the claw and waited until it turned to the left. "Left." May nodded and went to turn the corner but paused. The hallway they had to take had no floor. It was hidden under thousands of bones that they were going to have to walk on. The demon started to shiver but gulped her fear back and stepped on the mound of bones.

The three walked along the hallway of bones for miles, following the directions given by the Werewolves Claw. May paused for a moment and whipped her forehead with the back of her hand. The farther they went, the fainter she felt. Oddly enough, she seemed to be the only one affected. Maybe it was her human side that aloud the diseases to sneak their way through. Since her father was a pure blooded demon and Yasashiku was a werewolf, they weren't affected at all. The teen tried her best not to show her illness to the others as she continued on.

"Jeeze, how long are we going to have to walk?" May took another step on uneven bones and her ankle twisted to the side. Falling to the ground, her face pressed up again a skull. As the small demon opened her eyes to meet with a skull, she let out an ear-piercing scream and scrambled against Yasashiku, latching onto his thick, black fur. The werewolf blinked and instinctively put his paw on her back and patted her.

"What? Bones scare ya?" May looked over to her friend who was on the verge of laughing at her and glared.

"N-no! I'm fine!" The demon blushed, pushed herself from Yasashiku's grasp and tried to stand. Stumbling, she used the wall to support herself and continued on.

"May." HellBoy reached out over Yasashiku and snatched her daughter's arm in his large grasp to stop her. The small demon protested but was no match for her father. "You don't look good. Something's wrong." May groggily looked back to the two who were looking at her in concern.

"I'm fine. I'm just tired." The large demon reluctantly let go of his daughters arm. May huffed and walked on. _He's right. I feel like complete shit. But I can't let them know or they'll send me back._ Whipping her forehead with the back of her hand again, she stopped at another fork in the path.

"We should go... Right." Yasashiku blinked as May stopped after looking around the corner. "... May?" The werewolf peeked over her shoulder and spotted an illuminated room ahead. "Is that it?"

"I think so." The demon started to jog towards the light followed by HellBoy and Yasashiku. May stopped just outside the door and peeked in. "Yasashiku, you have to go in, let the claw attach itself, then drink from that fountain and run out here as fast as you can. I don't think the werewolf can leave this chamber." The demon pointed to an old, still running fountain in the middle of a room. A large werewolf statue sat behind it with one of its front claws sliced off. Skeletons littered the ground, especially around the fountain.

Yasashiku gulped and looked over the area. "Well, that looks really healthy." May slapped the large werewolf's bare back.

"You'll do fine. Even if you don't get out in time, dad and I are here to save you." Yasashiku gulped before stepping into the room. The claw in his hand immediately flung itself from his grasp and attached itself to the large statue in the back of the room. The werewolf then bent down to the large fountain in the center and began to drink from it. The large stature started to shift and twist as it pulled itself from the wall. Once Yasashiku had drunk enough, he turned back to run towards May and HellBoy but stopped.

_My heart... Its like its going to explode..._ The large werewolf fell to his knees and clutched his heart. All her could do was to try and stay conscious let alone try and run out of the room.

"YASASHIKU!" May started to run into the room until HellBoy grabbed her arm and forced her back. "What're you doing?! We've gotta save him!"

"You get him out of the room, let me deal with the werewolf." The large demon then let go of his daughter's arm and ran inside. May followed him quickly and knelt beside Yasashiku.

"Yasashiku! Hang on!" The demon grabbed one of the werewolf's arms and put it over her shoulder before trying to stand. Even with her increased strength it was difficult to lift the large werewolf up without him giving any help at all. "You have to help me! I can't carry you all by myself!" Once again she tried to heave the large werewolf out of the room, only managing to get him a few inches towards the entrance.

"My... Heart..." Yasashiku's eyes were large and sweat was coating his body. The fur that coated his skin was decreasing rapidly and his features were getting more and more human like. As the minutes passed, he kept getting lighter and easier to carry. May continued to pull him in jolts towards the door until they were at the entrance. Once she had finally managed to drag Yasashiku out of the door, she leaned him against a wall and kneeled in front of him.

"Yasashiku, hang on. You'll be back to normal soon and all this will be over." The magician looked up at her with painful eyes. He was now free of all his fur and only some of his facial structure and claws were left. May reached her hand up and placed it on Yasashiku's, which was still grasping as his chest. "Everything's going to be fine..." Smiling, she stood and ran towards the entrance.

The large werewolf was tossing her father around like a doll, slamming him into walls and everything surrounding the fountain. "DADDY! Yasashiku's outside! We have to leave!" Her father probably wouldn't be able to get out of the wolf's grasp alone, so May raced in and drew her gun. "HEY! OVER HERE!" The large werewolf turned to face the small demon child who was only as big as one of his arms. May smirked and aimed at his head, hitting her target three times. The werewolf howled and dropped HellBoy to claw at his face. The bullets she had used were made out of silver so if they weren't extracted they would burn the creature inside out. The large demon staggered to his feet as May did her best to pull him towards the entrance. "We've gotta go, Dad!"

"No, we have to finish him off so he doesn't leave the catacombs." HellBoy drew his gun and began shooting at the large werewolf, ignoring his daughter's futile attempts to pull him away by his large stone hand. Every bullet that hit the large creature started to burn the skin away. As the red demon ran out of bullets, he allowed May to pull him to the safety on the other side of the doorway.

"He can't leave the chamber, right? Were fine! Once we leave he'll just revert back to stone!" May paused as her dad collapsed where Yasashiku had been sitting. "Oh my god... Where's Yasashiku?!" The demon jumped up and looked into the chamber the large werewolf was in. Sure enough, Yasashiku was standing in front of the large creature with the katana May had given him. "YASASHIKU, NO!"

May rushed out just a second too late as the thief charged, slicing the werewolf's stomach open in one clean swipe. Yasashiku then grabbed onto the thick fur to hang on before the wolf grabbed his arm and flung him off. The small teen rushed over just in time to catch her friend, tumbling backwards as she did so. As both of them regained their composure, May boiled at Yasashiku's foolishness. "You DIPSHIT!"

"Get down!" The magician leaped on May and pressed her under his weight as a loud explosion went off where the werewolf had been standing. The small demon blinked and looked up. Yasashiku's bare back and half of his face was covered in the werewolf's blood as he grabbed May's hand and helped her up. Both of them looked over the wreckage of the room.

"It... Exploded?" Yasashiku smirked and looked at her.

"When I sliced his stomach open I planted a bomb I had made earlier inside. It was made out of silver so when it exploded, silver shards went though out his body. So not only did he explode, but he burnt to death."

"... Wow..." May blinked and stared back at Yasashiku's half blood covered face. Both of them then realized they were holding hands and their faces were awfully close. The small demon blushed furiously as Yasashiku stood up abruptly, pulling May up with him before letting go of her hand.

As all three of them walked out of the catacombs, May noticed the large scratch marks across Yasashiku's arm. "Yasashiku! Your arm!" The thief blinked and looked at his wounds. They weren't as painful as he thought they would be...

"S'ok they head werewolf is dead, right? Once he's dead then all the other werewolves are cured."

May raised a brow and shook her head. HellBoy, who was walking in front of them snorted. "Uhhh, that's just for vampires."

"What?!"

"Yeah... And when you killed the werewolf the fountain dried up."

"Ahhh, SHIT!" Yasashiku raised his arms to his head and ruffled his hair in frustration. "So now were back to where we started?!"

"Not exactly. If you haven't noticed, your still a human, right?" May looked over to him while putting her hands in her pockets.

"Well... Yeah."

"Then you're just a traditional werewolf now. That means you only change at will and on the full moon."

"Auuuuugh!" Yasashiku's head dropped, May giggled and patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry! You can stay in the B.P.R.D on full moon's and can now come on missions with us!" The small demon almost bounced at the thought of having another friend to aid on missions.

"Oh, no he can't." HellBoy spoke up while looking back at them. "He'll **have** to stay with us on full moons, but he's NOT coming on missions with us. How will we explain to his parents if he gets hurt during on of our missions?" May looked up at her father then down at her feet. He was right. "But if he only stays at the Bureau on full moons, he can just lie to his parents about spending the night at a friends house."

"That's true..." May looked over to Yasashiku who looked almost as disappointed as she did. "So you only have to stay at the B.P.R.D on full moons. Is that okay with you?"

Yasashiku looked down to May and stuck his hands in his large pockets of the torn jeans he was still wearing. "Well, I don't really have a choice. Plus, I guess it won't be that bad." The small demon smiled as the three headed out of the catacombs.

_When we got back to New York and had all our wounds tended to I had to be put to bed rest for a cold I caught while in the catacombs. Yasashiku went back home with two agents who explained to his parents that he had been kidnapped after spotting The Black Magician with the Werewolves Claw. Luckily his parents accepted the story right away and all Yasashiku got was lost of hugs and kisses from his mother. He also promised that he would never tell anyone about the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense as long as we continued to help him with his little werewolf problem and keep his identity as The Black Magician a secret._

_While I was trying to find a cure for him one day to rid him of the werewolf curse I was surprised when he stopped me and told me he'd rather live his life out like fate had planned it. That and because he said he wanted to keep visiting me. Other then that we both went out separate ways. I visit him sometimes on his roof like I always did with Cate and on full moons he drops by the Bureau to hide out._

_Yasashiku seems to love that katana I gave him. It's hung up in his room above his bed now. I wonder if he'll ever find another use for it..._

_At times it feels like I'm pushing Cate aside and replacing her with Yasashiku, but I know that's not the case and I know Cate knows that. I'll continue to wear the necklace she made for me until the day die so her memory will live on._

May sat on the edge of her bed and swung her feet over the side as she looked down at a picture frame. Smiling, she leaned over and set it on the table next to her bed. A small clicking sound rang out as the necklace wrapped around her wrist made contact with the wooden frame. Looking back at the photograph in the picture frame, she smiled and turned off the light on the table before rolling over and covering herself with the blankets on her bed. The glass covering the picture reflected light as it finally came into view. It showed May and a large, black, werewolf Yasashiku side by side almost pressed against the camera giving each other bunny ears.


	3. Abduction

**Note: **Thundhar Khat isn't mine, it's a friends HellBoy character. Since she had written a fic with May in it, I thought it was only fair to write one with hef character in it. TK will now be a really minor character in my stories, sometimes not showing up at all. Also, this fic is shorter then my others because it's just the begining of the main plot.

**HellGirl – Abduction**

_---_

May let out a loud yawn and stretched her arms to the sky. Her raven locks were tangled and some were pasted to her face from sleeping on the strands. Scratching her head, she coughed and reached for the drawer on the table next to her bed. Opening it, she took out a white ventilation mask and put it on over her nose and mouth before getting up and combing her hair. She had gotten the flu not too long ago and was forced to were the mask to keep the germs at bay. That and was on tight security to make sure she didn't sneak out. Coughing, she opened the steel door to her room and looked out. Agents walked by and went on with their everyday lives.

After snatching some clothes she headed out towards the bathroom. As she neared the door and began to open the door someone grabbed her shoulder to stop her. May looked back to see her father. "May, you really shouldn't be out walking around while your sick." The demon glared up at the large demon with weak and heavy eyes.

"Just because I'm sick doesn't mean I have to smell." May brushed her father's hand off of her shoulder and opened up the door to the bathroom. The mask worn over her face as she spoke muffled her voice. "I won't turn the water on that hot so I don't faint, okay?" She then disappeared inside the bathroom, leaving her father to sigh and make his way back to his own room.

May coughed and looked into the mirror of the bathroom. Her hair was a mess despite the fact she combed it, her eyes were too heavy to hold open the whole way and bags were under each eye. Coughing again she took off her mask and clothes before getting into the shower.

_How come I'm the one to always get sick? I got sick after we got back from the catacombs, I get sick almost every Christmas._ The teen looked up at the showerhead, letting the drops of water splash onto her face. She was going to go see Yasashiku tonight despite the fact she was sick. May hadn't told him that she was ill and didn't plan to or he would make her stay home like everyone else.

As she stepped from the shower and got dressed, the small demon kept thinking about the trip she was going to take tonight and hoped she wouldn't faint on her way there or back. After putting on a new ventilation mask and combing her hair, May headed back to her room to sleep and rest until it got dark enough for her to sneak out.

Just as the red teen collapsed onto her bed someone knocked on her door. May grumbled, not bothering to move. "Come iiin." Hadly opened the door and walked in before setting a tray up next to her bed.

"Are you feeling any better?" The demon looked up to the tray. Ginger ale and chicken noodle soup. May forced herself up to a sitting position.

"Not really" The teen brought her hand to her mouth as she coughed and removed the mask. Scooting closer to the tray with her food on it, she picked up the spoon and started to sip on the nice, hot chicken broth inside the bowl.

"I have some medicine for you, too." Hadly reached down and grabbed a bottle filled with pills. Opening it and dumping one out on his palm, he handed it to May.

"Ugh" The red demon took the pill and popped it into her mouth before drinking some of the ginger ale to help it down. "Will it get me better faster?"

"Hopefully." Hadly capped the pill bottle and patted May's shoulder. "Take care, eat all your soup and get as much rest as you can. I'll be back later to pick up the dishes."

"Okay." After her caretaker had left, the small teen finished her soup and ginger ale before falling back asleep on her bed. The more rest she got before she snuck out, the better.

---

May coughed while once more while she pulled on her boots and buckled them. Despite the heat she was bundled up from head to toe. She wasn't going to jump buildings tonight and would just stick to the back allies since she didn't have the strength to really spend that much energy. The demon peeked out her door to make sure no agents were passing and looked up to the vent she used as an escape route that had had a lock put on it. May smirked. "You guys are going to have to do better then that." Coughing, she jumped up and hung from the vent as she twisted the lock until it snapped off. She then dropped down and went back into her room to hide the lock and sit down on her bed to catch her breath. Just doing that whipped her out like she had run a marathon. After getting her energy back, May walked out of her room and leaped onto the vent before taking it off and hauling herself up into it.

Once she was out of the vent, the teen flopped over next to the outside vent to catch her breath. Standing, May started walking through the back allies in order to get to Yasashiku's house. The small demon thought back to the last visit she had had with him and the conversation they had

_"You really shouldn't steal things." May looked over to the young thief who was leaning back on a chair with his feet propped up on the edge of the building next to her with his hand behind his head. Yasashiku chuckled and looked over to her._

_"That's like telling you not to fight paranormal beings. One, it's in your blood and two, it's your passion." The magician then let the chair's front feet fall to the ground and he stood, putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans._

_May rolled her eyes, giving up on trying to convince him otherwise. "I guess your right"_

The demon raised her hand to her mouth as she coughed, pausing for a minute to regain her composure. _I'm getting worse... Maybe I should've called it off._ May started to walking again only to be stopped abruptly. "Hey!" Someone snatched onto her arm from the shadows and another grabbed onto her left arm. "Get off me!" Before she could try and get away another person from behind reached out and put a cloth over her mouth. _Chloroform!_ May tried to get away but she was too weak from her illness and faint from the chloroform and started to black out. Her multicoloured eyes dropped and the teen fell to the ground.

"Good job, Boss will be very happy" The three people gathered her up and vanished into the darkness of the ally. Little did they know they were being watched

---

_Uhhh... Where am I?_ May's eyes opened slowly as she came to. _Looks like an old building of some kind._ She then tried to stand but was quickly brought back down. "Huh?!" The demon looked down at her hands and feet. Her hands were chained together and hooked to the seat she was sitting on and her feet were chained to the floor. _Easy, I'll just break them._ May pulled with all her might but failed miserably and went into a coughing fit.

"You can't break those locks. They have inscriptions on them to keep you sealed." A dark voice spoke out from the doorway into the room but only a tall figure was outlined in the shadows.

"Who are you!? What do you want with me?!" May's voice cracked as she yelled and went into another coughing fit.

"Like your father, you're the key to unleash something wonderful." She could tell whoever was speaking was male, but couldn't tell any of his facial features.

"What're you talking about?" May glared at the figure and pulled at her chains.

"I suppose your dear old father didn't tell you he almost destroyed the world. Or that he's the key to this world's death? Pity."

"Shut up! My father would never do a thing like that!" May started to yank at her chains once more as the figure waved his hand forward. Four more figures appeared behind him and walked into the room. One was holding a baseball bat and grinning wickedly as they all advanced on her.

"Do what you wish. Just make sure she doesn't talk." The figure in the doorway walked off, leaving May with the four men. The small demon pressed herself against the wall to try and get as far away from the men as possible.

"S-Stay back!" Tears started to well in her eyes as she let out a loud, ear-piercing scream.

---

Yasashiku paced his rooftop uneasily and looked at his watch. _She should have been here over an hour ago... Something's wrong._ The magician looked around the streets below before vaulting over the side of the building and landing in a crouch in the ally beside it. Standing and brushing off his pants he began to run towards the B.P.R.D. He was thankfully he was a werewolf which abled him to do things like leap off a building and run faster then most humans.

Once he had gotten to the B.P.R.D, he stopped and pressed the button on the intercom. "What do you want?"

"It's Yasashiku." The fake intercom flipped over and the eye identifier flipped out, flashing in the werewolf's eye before closing. The gate opened and Yasashiku ran into the building. As the platform he stood on moved down, the thief looked around until it stopped before running off in the direction of May's room. Yasashiku slid to a stop and knocked on her door.

"May? May are you in there?" The door opened slowly as he knocked again and peeked in. _She's not here._ The magician picked up the broken lock on her bed and looked at it before turning towards the door. _May's scent is all over this room._ For a moment he merely inhaled her scent, relaxing with every breath. _I guess I better ask Pops._ Yasashiku ran from May's room the HellBoy's and knocked on the large steel door.

"Hey! Pops!" Ever since the last mission he had grown comfortable around the large demon and had even given him a nickname to HellBoy's dismay. After a few minutes the door opened and a rather grumpy demon stood in front of him.

"What do you want? Do you know it's" HellBoy looked at the clock on his wall. "Three AM?"

"Of course, but May was going to meet me tonight and she never showed up and she's not here. I think something might've happened to her." The demon's eyes shot open.

"Meet you?! Didn't she tell you she's sick?!" Yasashiku blinked.

"Well... No, is she okay?"

"I highly doubt it. Go find Hadly, May's caretaker and tell him to get a few agents so we can go look for her." Yasashiku nodded and darted off as HellBoy disappeared back in his room and get ready.

---

Blood trickled from the corner of May's mouth, as she lay limp on the bench she was chained to. The men had beaten her to a pulp for fun before leaving her in the room alone. A gash was across her forehead, one of her eyes was blackened, some of her clothes were ripped and multiple bruises and cuts coated her body. The small demon opened one of her eyes, blood trickling over it as she tried to stay conscious. _Why... Why are they doing this?_ May coughed and slumped against the wall behind her.

One of the windows in front of her slid open silently as a lithe figure slipped inside, closing the window behind her. Slowly it walked over to May and crouched in front of her. A clawed hand reached up and grabbed her shoulder, shaking the demon conscious. "Hey... Hey" May groggily opened her eyes and tried to focus on the figure in front of her.

"Who're you?" May coughed and fell forward. The strange being caught her and rested her back against the wall behind her.

"Your HellGirl, right? I'm here to help." The demon focused and sat up straight. It was a... girl. A strange girl about her age that had cat like features like her ears, claws, and a long tail that matched her yellow hair and had strange black markings on them.

"Who are you? Where are we?"

"My names Thundher Khat. Your still in New York so don't worry. But I can't break your chains so tell me where I can get help." May coughed, extremely glad that whoever this girl was that she was a friend.

"The Waste Management center. Go there and sneak in through the back vent. Then tell the first person you find that you know where I am." She paused to cough before swallowing and speaking again. "They should believe you. Hurry... I dunno what these guys want with me." Thundher Khat nodded and dashed out of the room from the window she came from.

_Who is that girl? And how did she know where I was?_ May coughed and leaned back on the wall. _Thundher Khat, as of now you're my only hope..._

---

"Alright, ready?" HellBoy looked back at Yasashiku and the group of agents behind him. The group nodded as the large demon turned back around and pointed forward. "We'll split up into two teams. Wolf and I will cover the rooftops, the rest of you cover the allies between here and Yasashiku's apartment. Link up and head out." Everyone clicked on their locators and split up throughout the allies of New York.

Yasashiku followed HellBoy up the side of the building next to the Bureau and stopped to look around. "I'll take the left." The large demon nodded and headed to the right as the thief ran towards the building on the left, changing into his werewolf form as he approached the edge of the building, taking off his shirt and threw it to the side. As he jumped and landed on the building across the street he was completely transformed. Yasashiku got down on all fours and sniffed at the buildings roof.

_Nothing... She didn't come this way._ The werewolf stood and pressed the microphone in his ear. "Pops, she didn't go to the left. I'm coming your way."

"Gotcha, hurry up over here." HellBoy stopped and looked around to wait for Yasashiku.

The teen backed up and leapt across the building he had came from before turning and leaping over to the building HellBoy had been on. The werewolf continued this until he was only a few buildings away. Panting he stopped and started to leap across the next building but came short. "Ahh, CRAP!" Yasashiku missed the edge by inches and fell to the ground with a loud crash, knocking over trashcans as he landed. "Auuugh"

"YA!" Yasashiku jumped up into a crouch and looked at the form in the ally with him. Her scent was odd... Mixed with a human girl and some feral cat. As the girl began to run past him, he leapt up and snatched her arm.

"Wait!" He could pick up the scent of May's blood even though it was very faint on the girl. "You know where HellGirl is!" The girl immediately stopped struggling and looked up at the large werewolf.

"Y-Yes... How did you know?" Yasashiku just grinned and pointed to his long nose.

"I'm one of her friends, do you know where she is?" The large werewolf formed back to his human form and let go of the strange girl's arm.

"Yeah. She told me to go to the Waste Management center and get help since neither of us could break her locks."

"LOCKS?!" Yasashiku's eyes widened. May was in danger and could be seriously hurt. They needed to get help to her fast. Panicking, he pressed the microphone in her ear. "Pops, I know where May is. I just found someone who can help us. We need to hurry, according to the source she's chained up and I can smell a little bit of her blood." After getting a reply from HellBoy he looked to the girl. "What's your name?"

"Thundher Khat."

"Name Yasashiku, you can call me Wolf. Come with me, we have to go get May." The wolf grabbed TK's arm before dragging her off in the direction of the B.P.R.D.

---

May slumped limply on the bench she was chained to, eyes closed. She was extremely weak with both her sickness and the loss of blood from the wounds inflicted upon her the day before. The demon breathed heavily to try and catch her breath, not bothering to open her eyes as footsteps sounded closer and closer until they stopped in front of her.

"Soon your life will be ours and my species will reign supreme." The same cruel voice as before chuckled as May opened one of her eyes to try and focus on the figure in front of her. Just as before, all she could make out was the outline of a tall, shadowy figure standing in front of her. The small demon coughed, trying to find her voice.

"What... What are you going to do? Who are you?" A cruel smile played across the figures face.

"But if I told you now and that cat girl managed to get to your father in time and they rescued you, you'd know everything and would destroy my plans." May gasped and looked to the ground. They knew about Thundher Khat's visit. What if they had somehow managed to stop her from getting to her father? The demon closed her eye tightly, wanting to just wake up from this nightmare. A cold hand slid under her chin and raised her face to look directly at him. For some odd reason, fear shot through every part of her body and she started to shake uncontrollably.

"It seems the little kitten has saved you this time. But I'll be back for you my little key." Something wet and cold made contact with her face. It felt like a snake slithering across her cheek, ready to sink its large fangs into her throat if she made any sudden movements. May tried to lean away but failed and the slippery wet object ran across her face until it stopped.

"Lets go. We can do nothing more here." The figure stood and in a split second, him and the rest of the beings she had sensed in the room was gone. May was left alone in the old room, shivering, weak, and afraid.

---

"In there!" Thundher Khat pointed up at a window in the old abandoned factory as the large garbage truck came to a stop. It had taken them a full day to find the old building even with TK's help. The sun was just about to set over the tall buildings surrounding the old building as the group headed in.

HellBoy was the first to run into the room. "MAY!" He quickly bent down behind her and started to snap the chains holding her. The second the small demon was free; she leapt at the closest person to her, Yasashiku. Wrapping her arms around him, she began to bawl her eyes out into his shirt, soaking it with her tears. For a moment the werewolf merely stood in shock before wrapping his arms around her and rocking her back and forth gently.

"It's okay, May... Were all here for you." After May had calmed down, Yasashiku leaned her back into HellBoy's arms, who lifted her up like a small child and carried her out of the building.

---

_It took me about two weeks to fully recover from both my injuries and my illness. I really have Thundher Khat to thank for being alive. If she hadn't found me then the people who had kept me captive would have moved me to a new spot and probably would've killed me. I still have no idea who those people were and hopefully I never will know. But I have a feeling that's not the last time I'm going to see them._

May looked down at the object in her hand as she walked down the hallway towards the rooms where HellBoy and her room was located. Turning, she knocked on a steel door and waited for the owner of the room to answer. The door opened slowly and Thundher Khat looked down at her.

"May? What's up?" Without a word, the small demon grabbed hold of one of TK's clawed hands and placed the object she had been carrying in her palm before letting her arms drop to her sides. The cat girl looked down at what she had been given and gasped. A yellow locator. May smirked and looked up at her new friend.

"Welcome to the team, TK."


	4. Fountain of Youth

**Note: **For some reason, I don't really like the chapter. But, I already did it so I might as well slap it up, ne?

****

**HellGirl – Fountain of Youth**

****

"And that's the reason my hand is like this..." HellBoy held up his large stone hand after finishing his story about how he almost ended the world to save Liz's life. May blinked in amazement, trying to take everything her father said in. A strong wind blew by, tossing the small demon's raven hair on her features. The father and daughter sat on top of the roof of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense building. May looked down at her feet.

"How come you never told me all of this before?" The demon looked over to her father while pulling her knees to her chest, hugging her legs tightly. It hurt her that HellBoy hadn't told her such a story earlier. But why had he kept it hidden from her all this time?

"I didn't think you needed to know. Plus, it still hurts to bring it up." The large demon looked down at the can of soda in his hand and took a sip. "It's not a thing I'm really proud of. Being brought into this world just as some sort of key to the worlds end." May's eyes turned away from her father and back to the city in front of them. Slowly she leaned over until her head was against HellBoy's arm.

"What if... I was some sort of key for something horrible?" The red teen's eyes narrowed in sadness. "The guy said I was a key to something. I know it can't be good." The large demon moved his arm around his small daughter and drew her closer. May snuggled into her father's large form instinctively. At that very moment she felt like nothing could harm her and she was completely safe from anything and everything.

"Were all born for a reason. Whether that reason is good or bad is not up to us. But we all have total control of what we do and can only hope to make the right decision. Whether its against our soul purpose or not." The small demon smiled and snuggled farther into her father's side. At times HellBoy almost seemed like a friend to her more then a father. But at times like these, when he showed wisdom and caring for her and tried his best to keep their small family together while Liz was gone and try to make up for her absence, he was all she really needed. A father to help guide her way. Suddenly the large demon pulled away from May's grasp and stood up. "It's late, you should be getting to bed."

"I'll be down in a second, okay?" May kicked her feet back and forth, trying her best to keep her slippers from falling off while she did so.

"Alright but don't take too long." HellBoy patted his daughter's head before turning and heading in through the roof door back inside. The small demon watched him leave and sat staring at the small door for a few minutes before looking out over the city.

I I'll be back for you, my little key... /I The same phrase ran over and over in May's mind. What had that... creature meant? What kind of key was she? What kind of creatures had kidnapped her? The red teen sat on the rooftop for a while longer, thinking about what had happened and tried her best to piece the tiny bits of information she was given together. But of course, she got nowhere. Sighing, she stood and headed inside through the same door that HellBoy had disappeared into merely minutes before.

May wandered down the halls towards her room in her pajamas and slippers. As she walked she looked down at the tiny cats that dotted the light purple cotton pants and button up shirt. She also wore the matching light purple slippers covered in black paw prints. Hadly had gotten the set for her last Christmas and every time is started to get even slightly cold she wore them every chance she got. The small demon then paused in front of Thundher Khat's room and merely stared at her door for a few moments.

It had been about a month since the incident and TK had been welcomed to the B.P.R.D the very second they had gotten back from rescuing her. The strange cat girl didn't have complete control of her electronical powers just yet, but she did have real potential. Sadly, Thundher Khat wasn't aloud to go on missions with them until she learned to control her abilities since it was too much of a risk.

Finally snapping out of her daze, May walked up to the large steel door and knocked. After a few minutes of shuffling and getting to the door, TK opened it and looked down at her small friend. "May? What is it?" The small demon just shrugged, looking to the right absently.

"I can't sleep... Did I wake you?"

"Of course not! I stay up late and sleep mostly during the day. You wanna talk?" May nodded and followed the cat girl into her room, shutting the door behind her. The small demon then occupied a chair and sat cross-legged on it.

"I don't mean to pry... But I always wondered where you came from or how you came to be. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." May looked up at her friend, regretting asking when she saw the sad expression on the cat girl's face. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay." Thundher Khat took a deep breath and looked down at her lap. "To make a long story short, my adoptive mother used me as a lab rat. I escaped from her when I was little and lived on the streets until I met you." The small demon looked down at her feet.

"I'm sorry... It must have been hard." TK just shrugged it off, wanting to get off the subject. "I know your HellBoy's little girl and all, but who is your mom?" May's sad expression sunk even deeper but she tried not to show it.

"My mom and dad were good friends ever since they were little. My mom, Liz, lived in here. She had uncontrollable pyrokenesis. After something major happened my parents feel in love and... I came to be. I obviously look mostly like my father, but I have some of my mother's traits, too." Her different coloured eyes started to glaze over but May tried to hold her tears back. "Mom got sick with cancer shortly after I turned eight. She's been fighting it ever since in the hospital." The cat girl winced but the small demon suddenly broke the moment by letting out a small yawn. "I guess I better get to bed." HellGirl stood and smiled at Thundher Khat. "G'night."

"Night." After waving to each other, May exited TK's room and shut the door behind her before heading off to her own room. Her mind was overflowing with ideas and thoughts and everything else that was happening in her life.

_Must just be one of those nights._ May opened her bedroom door and flicked on the light before shutting the door behind her. "I hope I can get to sleep." The small demon flopped back on her bed and grabbed her CD player. The black and white cat, Zippy leaped onto her bed and began to purr, rubbing his face into her red body before flopping down at her side. May smiled slightly, stroking the cat down it's back and scratching its head. "Tired too?" After flipping on her CD player and putting on her headphones, May covered herself up and turned onto her side to try and get some sleep.

---

HellGirl snorted as someone pounded on her door. By how much force was put behind each knock she could tell it was her father. Grumbling, May grabbed her pillow and slammed it over her face to try and drown out the noise.

"May? You have to wake up, something just came up!" The small demon looked over to her clock. 8:40am. Wonderful. Letting out a sigh, May managed to squeak out a reply from under the pillow.

"I'll be out in a sec!" Of course she didn't plan on getting up anytime soon and merely turned over in her bed.

"Oh no, I've heard that excuse before! If you want to be a part of the team you're going to have to be prepared for this sort of thing!" HellBoy then opened her door and stormed in, snatching the blankets off of his daughter. May scrunched up into a ball in reflex and let out a whine. "C'mon." The large demon snatched the back of her shirt and lifted her from her bed before carrying her off towards the meeting room.

As the entered the meeting room, May stumbled to the seat next to her father and plopped down. She was now to awake to go back to sleep but too asleep to pay attention too much. "Here May." Hadly set a cup of coffee in front of her before taking the seat next to her. The small demon nodded in thanks before taking the cup in her small, red hands and sipping at the hot liquid contained inside.

Tate, the head of the FBI who had taken over shortly after Tom had retired stood at the front of the room looking as serious as he always did. Once everyone was seated and settled, his arms went from behind his back to across his chest. "We have recently received information about a cult starting to form which revolves around the Fountain of Youth. We have also been told that this cult is very, very close to finding the real thing." May blinked, taking her lips away from the edge of her coffee cup to speak up.

"But I thought you guys had already sealed that thing up... Didn't you?" Her curious, multicoloured gaze stuck to Tate as he swayed slightly on his heels.

"Yes, we did. But it seems they have gotten the information off of one of the natives. All we can do it send a squad in and place the fountain under 24 hour surveillance until they show up, then deal with them." HellBoy blinked, leaning forward on the table.

"Wait, then why did you us out here?" May and her father were usually only called out when it came to large monsters or paranormal beings, not just small cults that get out of hand.

"Well, were not positive if this cult has any magic on their side or not. So you two need to go just in case they happen to have some sort of secret weapon that had gotten them this far."

"Where is the Fountain of Youth, anyway?" May blinked at Tate while taking another sip of her coffee.

"Spain. We'll be leaving there first thing tomarrow morning so get ready to head out by then."

As the rest of the details were set up and the meeting was adjourned, May went back to her room and flopped onto her bed. After a nap and a shower she'd contact Yasashiku and meet him tonight. It had become a habit to go see him every time before they went onto some sort of mission even if it was as small as this one.

---

"The Fountain of Youth?" Yasashiku raised a brow and chuckled. "Man, all the things proven not to exist seem to exist. I wonder why all of that sort of thing was covered up..."

"Probably to keep the mayhem at bay." May shrugged while balancing herself on the edge of the roof. The magician looked over to her from his usual position on a chair, leaned back far enough that it looked like the chair would fall over at the slightest wind.

"The full moon is next Tuesday, y'know. You better be back before then." The small demon stepped off the edge onto the roof.

"I know, I know. I'll probably be back Monday. Maybe earlier."

"Better be. I don't want to have to hang around that place all night with nothing to do." HellGirl looked over to the thief and folded her arms behind her head.

"Are you still planning on stealing that gem tomarrow night?" Her eyes narrowed as Yasashiku grinned.

"Of course! Can't leave something that precious out of my hands for that long. The tighter the security, the better. I have to keep testing my abilities." May grumbled at the werewolf's smugness.

"I better be going. I have to get up early tomarrow and head for Spain." The small demon stretched and started to get ready to leap over to the next building.

"Wait!" Yasashiku stumbled up until he was standing next to her. "I... Uh... Good luck and come back in one piece, alright?" HellGirl's blush turned into a smirk.

"Please, it's just a simple mission. I'll be fine! You have no reason to worry. See-ya!" Before the magician could say a word, May had already leapt over to the next building and was on her way home.

_I dunno if it's my werewolf senses or not... But I have a bad feeling about this..._ Yasashiku sighed as he watched May's figure disappear over the tall buildings.

---

"Alright, is everyone in position?" Tate looked around to make sure agents surrounded the Fountain of Youth. HellBoy and May were sitting directly beside the fountain looking rather bored and displeased that they were forced to go on such a simple mission. The small demon set to work at looking at her nails and playing with random twigs and leaves that surrounded her. HellBoy puffed on a cigar and looked like he was about to doze off at the lack of action.

The group sat and waited for hours until something finally came up. "Their coming!" Everyone's attention shot to the direction, which the call had come from. Sure enough a group of three came walking towards the waiting group of agents.

_That's all of them? Something's not right..._ As the agents yelled warnings and all of them were ignored, they began shooting in their general direction to try and scare them off. The guy in the center just smirked and held out his right hand. A burst of air seemed to generate from it, sending the agents flying.

"Oh crap!" HellBoy raised a brow and drew his gun before shooting at them, only to have the bullets redirected to the side by some sort of barrier.

"Daaaad?" May gulped and took a step back as the three gained speed until they were directly in front of HellBoy and May.

"May!" The large demon charged and rammed his stone hand directly into the barrier, not even cracking it. "Oh... Crap..." The leader of the three gave a wicked grin and outstretched his hand before moving it quickly to the right.

"YAH!" Both May and HellBoy were sent flying straight into the Fountain of Youth. May sat up and coughed before climbing over the wall around the fountain.

"They're getting away!" The three ran off as May tripped over her pants and fell onto the ground. "What the..." The small demon looked down at her clothes, which we now five times too big for her. "OH NO!" HellGirl quickly looked over to her father as he tumbled out as well. "Oh god!" HellBoy blinked and raised a brow at her.

"What?" His voice was five times younger then it was and his clothes were hanging off of him like a blanket. "Oh CRAP!" HellBoy was now the physical age of 15 where May appeared only six years old.

"This is UNBELIEVABLE!" May screeched to the sky and collapsed on her tiny rump in defeat.

---

May let out a loud yawn, stretching her tiny arms upwards as she climbs out of bed. It had been two days since the whole incident and she was really getting tired of being so small. They even had to run out and get her a whole new wardrobe until they figured out where the cult was hiding and could rush in, get the water they stole back and hopefully find a cure to reverse the effects. The small demon stared at her door before looking up at the doorknob. Even though she was now six, she was still incredibly small for her age just like always. Grunting, she reached up and grabbed the handle before pulling her door open.

"YA!" Hadly screeched the cart he was pulling to a halt before he ran into May. The pint-sized demon glared up at him, trying to sound her original age but failing miserably with her small, squeaky voice.

"Jesus! I'm still here y'know!" The agent chuckles and rubbed the back of his head before leaning down to talk to her.

"I have your breakfast ready, where are you headed off to?"

"Go ahead and put it in my room. I gotta go ask dad something real quick." Before her caretaker could respond, May was already running down the hallway towards her father's room. She stopped and looked up at the large steel door that lead into HellBoy's room and sighed. There was no way in hell she'd be able to budge it. After knocking she leaned back and forth on her heels until the large demon answered.

"May?" HellBoy leaned down on one of his knees so he was eyelevel with his daughter.

"Any news on a cure, the cult, or when were leaving?" The large demon glared at her. Even though he was only in the body of a 15 year old, he was still a lot bigger then May.

"When we find a cure, I'll come to you first thing, were looking for the cult now, and your not going once we find them."

"WHAT?!" The small demon glared upward, ready to leap up and gnaw on her father's leg. "Why not?!"

"Maybe because your three foot nothing and can barely even hold a gun let alone shoot it."

"But you're younger then I was when I started going on missions!"

"But I can still hold a gun, can't I? And I have my fists." May glared, not wanting to believe how right her father truly was.

"Fine." Crossing her arms, she turned her back to HellBoy and pouted.

"Atta girl." After patting her head, the large red demon went back into his room. May grumbled and headed back to her own room. _They had better find a cure quick. I can't stand growing up all over again. _As May entered her room she found the cart next to her bed like usual. Hadly had already left to take care of other business, making the small demon regret blowing him off to go talk to her father. She had always enjoyed talking to him while she ate and being so small made her feel more alone then ever somehow.

May climbed up onto her bed and over to the food that had been left for her. Legs dangling over the edge of her bed, she scooped up a spoonful of the oatmeal and started to eat it. As she ate, multiple things ran through her mind as if she had never shrunk in the first place and she was still in the body of a teenager.

Once she had finished her oatmeal, the small got a wonderful idea. With a smirk, she put on sunglasses, a scarf, a hat, gloves, a shirt, pants, boots, and a long coat. Since her horns were now so small the hat easily covered them with only small bumps as evidence they were still there. The long coat she wore covered her tail as she tried to keep it extremely still so it wouldn't peek out from underneath. May then looked at her handiwork in the mirror and grinned. Other then the small spaces on her face that showed her red skin, she looked like a normal bundled up child.

Since she was now so small she couldn't reach the vent she always crawled in no matter how high she could jump. Sighing, the pintsized demon looked around for another way to get to the vent above her. Finally, May latched onto the side of a glass case housing odd artifacts and shimmied her way upward as far as she could before kicking off of it and leaping towards the vent. The small demon dangled from the vent before jerking her body downward until the vent swung open, allowing her to climb up and shut the vent behind her.

May climbed through the vents like usual before she was outside. It was only about nine am on a Sunday and she didn't think Yasashiku to be the church type, so he should be home. It then occurred to her that she would have to keep to the back allies instead of leaping across roves. Like last time when she had taken the back allies and was kidnapped, she was weak and at a large disadvantage. But it was daylight and the creatures that had captured her seemed to always linger in the shadows. Shaking, she did her best to set her fear aside and slid through the bars surrounding the fake Waste Management center.

The small demon kept her head low so that the rim of her hat would cover most of her face from the passerby's as she walked down the street. Thankfully it was freezing out and not many people had decided to walk the streets of New Jersey today. Small clouds of fog puffed out of the scarf worn over her nose and mouth as she exhaled. Surprisingly few people looked at her as she walked by. The ones who did seemed to be concerned or worried about a small child wandering the streets alone merely slowed down until she passed them before walking on their way.

It seemed like ages until May had gotten to the apartment building Yasashiku lived in. She was out of breath even though she hadn't run at all and had a stitch in her side from walking so far. The demon's oddly coloured eyes looked around under her sunglasses for some way of finding out if Yasashiku was home and how she could get him to come down to her. May walked up the steps and looked at the large doors then to the voice box on the side of the wall.

"That's it!" The pintsized demon ran over to the voice box and leaped up to hang from the edge before pressing the button under the number 28, Yasashiku's apartment. Not too much longer the werewolf's voice rang out from the box.

"Hello?"

"Yasashiku! It's May, come down here!" May struggled to keep her small body propped up on the small ledge under the box.

"... What? You don't sound like May." The small demon winced, cursing her now high-pitched voice silently.

"Just shut up and get down here! I'll explain." A sigh emitted from the other end of the box.

"Fine, but this better not be some stupid joke." The voice then cut off, finally letting May drop down and sit on one of the steps. The small demon idly kicked her feet back and forth as she waited. An elderly woman stopped as she made her way up the stairs to the apartment doors and looked at her with concern.

"Oh my, why is a little one such as you sitting out here all alone in the cold? Do you need to come in, Sweetie?" May jumped, taking a few minutes to realize the woman was actually talking to her. Gulping, she tried to put on the most convincing child act she could. 

"No, no! I'm waiting for Daddy! He had to run up and grab something really quickly!" She smiled under her scarf to try and be as convincing as she could be. Finally the old woman smiled and nodded.

"Alright, take care and don't stay outside in this cold too long, Sweetie!" May grinned and nodded furiously as she watched the elderly woman disappear into the building. Once she was out of sight, the small demon let out a huge sigh and slumped onto the step behind her. Luckily for her that was when Yasashiku walked out.

"Yasashiku!" May jumped up and practically tripped over her own feet as she ran to greet him. "C'mer!" The small demon grabbed onto his pant leg to tug him into the ally next to his building but failed miserably as the magician refused to move an inch.

"What are you trying to pull, kid?" Yasashiku crouched down so he was eyelevel with May.

"Ugh! You're so stupid! How can't you tell it's me! I'm r-"May growled but cut herself off quickly. Saying she was red in a public place such as this might get a stare or two. As a last resort and moved her sunglasses farther down her face so her brown and yellow eyes could be seen. "See?!"

"YA!" The thief jumped upward, stepping back from the small demon before looking around and snatching May's hand. Once he had dragged her behind a garbage can in the ally next to the building he began to question her. "What in the HELL happened?!" Both of them kept their voices to low whispers as they spoke.

"I told you about the fountain of youth mission, right? Well, dad and I fell into it! I'm now only six and Dad's 15!" May pulled the scarf from her mouth so he could hear her better.

"I had a feeling about that mission." Yasashiku sighed and stood up, walking out of the ally. May followed while replacing the scarf over her mouth and nose. "My parents are out in Japan for the time being so you can explain everything inside."

The two made their way into the apartment building and up to Yasashiku's room. Once he had convinced her that no one would show up unexpected, May took off the heavy and hot layers of clothing she had put on.

"I'll make us some tea, you start telling me everything that happened." Yasashiku vanished behind a sliding door into the small kitchen as the small demon explained everything that had happened, from start to finish.

---

"I see, so you want me to help capture the guys that are the whole reason for this?" Yasashiku looked at May who was sitting across the small table and sipping her tea. The werewolf's entire apartment was done up in traditional Japanese décor, including the extremely low table and cushions they were sitting on.

"Bingo." As Yasashiku thought about it, the small demon looked out the window behind her. It was already evening? They had somehow trailed off once May had finished the story a long while ago and had jumped onto other slightly related subjects.

Both of them jumped as someone knocked on the door, their eyes wide with fear. "Yassie! I know you're in there!" May gulped back her shriek as the magician ushered her to grab her clothes and hide. Once the small demon and grabbed her clothes and dove into his parents room, Yasashiku calmly walked to the door and opened it.

"Sarah?!" A blonde, blue-eyed girl that looked like something straight off the cheerleading squad bounced in without being invited.

"Of course it's me, Yassie! Just came over to invite you to the fair being held over near the school!" The blonde latched onto one of Yasashiku's arms until he dragged her in a shut the door.

"I... Uh... I'm kinda busy." As Sarah kept insisting and Yasashiku kept turning her down, May glared from her small peeking spot at the door before closing it all the way. The small demon fumed and stormed over to the vanity next to the large bed.

_I'll teach that wench to act like that to Yasashiku!_ She didn't realize how mad she was getting over the obvious flirting Sarah was doing.

"I know someone else is here!" The blonde pointed to the second teacup sitting on the table. "It's some girl isn't it?!"

"I... Uh..."

"Yasashiku-niichan!" Both turned to the doorway of his parents room, they're stood a rather... tan, May. She used the hat she had been wearing to cover her horns and ears, her sunglasses, and the jacket to hide her tail. She had also snatched Yasashiku's mother's liquid foundation and had layered it on her visible skin so it covered up her redness and gave her a deep brown skin colour. The small demon also tried to remember the little Japanese the magician had taught her to somehow act like a small Japanese cousin or sibling.

Yasashiku blinked in amazement as May made her way over to the two. Sarah looked down at her then back to the young thief. "Who's the kid?"

"My... Uh..." May glared up at him, as if ushering him on. "Little cousin visiting from Japan! Her names Ma-Mayoko!" Yasashiku gave a fake grin and patted May on the head.

"Mayoko, huh? Well... Can't you dump her off at a relatives or something?" The small demon fumed at how clueless the blonde was.

_Yeah, dump a little kid off with his relatives in JAPAN. God, I hope Yasashiku's not in a relationship with this dumbass. I know more about him then SHE does..._ Yasashiku raised a brow at Sarah.

"I can't, I don't have any relatives in the U.S. Plus, I promised her I'd take her out for ice cream. Ne, Mayoko-chan?"

"HAI!" Thankfully the blonde wasn't bright enough to catch that she answered an English question even though she supposedly knew no English. "Kohi ip-pai dake onegai-shi-mass!" _(Just a cup of coffee, please!)_

"So I guess she only speaks Japanese, right?"

"Yeah... We'll, we better get going." Yasashiku laughed nervously as he tried to push the reluctant girl out of the door. May waved and put on a fake grin as she left, trying to make her small, Japanese child role convincing.

"At-chi e it-te baka!" _(Go away, Idiot!)_ Once the door was closed she heaved a sigh and fell on her small rear. "Good riddance." Yasashiku shook his head as he locked the door. "Well? What about that ice cream you promised me?" The magician let out a sigh and slumped.

---

May sipped on her coffee, trying her best not to smug her make up that she still wore to conceal her red skin complexion. Yasashiku walked beside her, sipping on his own cup. "Guess we should head back to the B.P.R.D, right?" The magician nodded, letting out a yawn.

"Good thing my parents are out of town. Though I don't think Pops is going to like me hanging around."

"Whether he likes it or not we really need your help. I know Dad can't handle all of them on his-"A gun shot rang out as May's eyes went wide and a bullet zipped through her left arm. The small demon fell forward, dropping her coffee to the side and blood started to gush from the wound in her arm.

"May!" Yasashiku reached down and picked up and small demon. Her eyes were wide and she seemed to be in shock. The werewolf looked over in the direction where the bullet had come from and narrowed his eyes as a lone figure turned before disappearing into the ally behind him.

_The pain... It's... Ten times as worse..._ It seemed as though her small body couldn't take as much pain as her original one could.

"Hang on!" May could see his lips move but couldn't hear anything as she fell unconscious in Yasashiku's arms. The teenage magician scooped the small demon into his arms before bolting towards the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

_---_

May opened up her multicoloured eyes halfway to try and block out the blinding light that was over her. Groaning, she closed her eyes again as the pain in her arm shot to her head the minute she reached full consciousness. Once her eyes adjusted to the light, the small demon looked around the room. She was in the medical room and HellBoy and Yasashiku were talking at the entrance. May tried to focus on them and raise her head but it was too heavy to move. The large red demon double took as his yellow gaze was pulled from the young magician to his daughter. The two then walked over to her and leaned down next to the large chair she was resting on.

"May, are you alright?" HellBoy felt the small demon's forehead with the back of his hand. It was hot so she probably had a slight fever.

"Y-Yeah... Why does my arm hurt?" May's eyes narrowed to try and keep some of the blinding light from making its way into her eyes.

"You were shot. By who we don't know. I think it was those people who had kidnapped you before but why they would just shoot you and run is beyond me." Yasashiku looked down at the small demon, concern welling up in his bright blue eyes. May looked over to her bandaged arm and frowned.

"No, I don't think it was them. I think it was one of the people from the cult. They were warning us not to get in their way."

"How do you figure? You didn't even see them before you fainted." HellBoy frowned and leaned his arm on the chair armrest. May said nothing but reached over to the table next to the chair and grabbed the bullet that had been pulled from her arm. After looking at it for a while in silence she held it out to her father.

"Open the bullet." HellBoy raised a brow and took the bullet between his fingers before holding it up.

"Cut open the bullet? Why?" Yasashiku leaned over and pointed at a small bump in the side of the bullet.

"Kinda looks like it's hollow or something." The werewolf took the bullet from the young demon's fingers and shook it while holding it up to his sensitive ears. "Yeah, something's defiantly rustling inside."

After what seemed like hours and trying to convince and force May to stay in her bed, Yasashiku and HellBoy sat at a metal table side by side as they sliced the bullet down the center and pulled out an extremely small piece of paper that was sealed inside. The writing on it was too small to make out by the eye so they placed it under a microscope to try and make out the writing.

"It's directions..." HellBoy zoomed the microscope in further. "Directions on where their hideout is." He then looked over to Yasashiku and raised a brow. "I guess they want us to find them."

"Could be a trap."

"More then likely, but do we really have a choice?" The large demon pushed himself away from the table and leaned on it. "We've gotta get the water back from them anyway."

"Hn..." As much as they both knew it was a trap, he was right. Did they really have a choice? It was their only lead and they needed to get the water from the Fountain of Youth out of their hands before they did something drastic.

---

"Let! Me! Go!" May flailed and spasmed while being held in midair by her father, who was flat out ignoring her while he got a few of his things ready for the trip. Finally, he let her go. The small demon fell on her rump on top of HellBoy's bed and crossed her arms, pouting like a child.

"I said no, and no is final." The large demon glared down at her and sighed. "Once this is over and done with, we'll find a cure and you can come on missions again. But until then, your not going anywhere." May grumbled as her father shooed her out the door before closing it.

_It's not fair. It's not MY fault I'm like this so I should at least be aloud to go along! _May grumbled and shoved her red hands into her pockets while storming her way to her room. _Even Yasashiku gets to go and I don't! _She growled but stopped abruptly. "Waaaait, a second..." With a sly smirk, she dashed off towards her room.

"Got everything?" HellBoy looked back to Yasashiku as the two of the boarded the large garbage truck.

"Yup!" The young magician grinned and patted the katana that was placed on his back. The large demon shook his head but got on anyway. Why he chose not to have a gun was beyond him...

---

"Alright, so their hideout is here. Wolf and I will drop off here and head in this way. The rest of you..." HellBoy pointed at a map while giving instructions on how they were going to barge into the hideout. "Be ready for anything, this is more then likely a trap." The small group of agents nodded and got their weapons ready. They had parked their trucks a small distance away from the hideout and would enter by foot.

As the teams headed in, Yasashiku couldn't help but wonder about May. She had been ordered to stay behind with Hadly, but it didn't seem like her to just sit around and wait for the others to come back. She had to be hiding somewhere, he just knew it... "What's pullin' your tail, pup?" The werewolf was snapped back to reality by HellBoy's deep voice.

"Uh..." He paused, thinking about the consequences of May coming along and somehow getting hurt in the process. "Nothing."

The two continued in silence until they had reached the supposed hideout of the cult. It looked like an old abandoned ruin that was grown over with weeds and other vegetation. The group of three from before was standing in the center around a table with some sort of strange equipment on it. HellBoy, being the kind to barge into things stood up to make himself known and stepped through the hole in the wall they had been spying from.

"Hey!" The three turned towards him, emotionless, as they had been before. Yasashiku growled at Red and jumped from his hiding spot while unsheathing his katana and standing beside him. The one in the center, appearing to be the head of the trio gave a sly smirk before raising his hand out towards them. The two expected the same attack from before and braced themselves for impact. Instead, rattling came from the ceiling above and before either of them could blink, two cages crash down on top of them.

"Danm!" HellBoy grabbed the bars of the cage, ready to snap them in half. Sparks shot up from his hands as he grabbed onto the bars, forcing him to let go. "Augh!" Red looked down at his left hand as smoke rose from it. Odd, he could usually grab onto anything with at least his right hand. He looked over to it and it was even slightly charred. The 'leader' of the trio laughed before turning back to the table.

"Those cages were specially made for you." A smile crossed his features as he turned back around, holding a weird looking gun in his hand. "Care to be my guinea pigs?" Yasashiku growled while transforming into a werewolf and latching his teeth onto the bars while on all fours. After shaking twice with sparks flying in every which direction he finally leg go and yelped, smoke coming from his mouth.

The man chuckled while walking closer and pointing the odd looking gun at HellBoy. "Your stupidity amuses me. One would think the demon who almost brought the Apocalypse would be smarter." Yasashiku froze and blinked towards the large demon in the cage beside him.

_The Apocalypse?_ The werewolf watched Red snarl as the horrible memory was surfaced once more.

"Now this little toy of mine..." The man pointed the gun upward as he admired it. "Will change everyone into nothing if my predictions are right. But I can't help but test it to make sure..."

HellBoy let out a loud growl. "What do you mean?" The man just smiled and pointed the gun at the red demon once more.

"It's a sort of lazer, if you will that contains the very substance that makes the Fountain of Youth's water so... youthful. If someone stays in the water too long and decreases in age so much, they'd cease to exist, wouldn't they?" The two gasped and flinched as the man grinned. "I'll test it on you two before using it to fulfill my own desires."

HellBoy raised his large, stone hand to try and protect himself as the trigger was pulled. A thin, blue light shot from the barrel of the gun and hit his arm like a normal lazer pointer. Red screamed as he decreased in size rapidly.

_It feels like... my bones are melting!_ HellBoy fell to his now small knees and started to slowly collapse to the ground as he continued to shrink.

"Stop!" A small, high-pitched voice rang out just before a gun went off and the strange gun flew from the man's hand. May let out a small cry as she was forced back by the guns force into the wall. The man growled and grabbed his hand, glaring in May's direction.

"You little brat..." May smirked and pushed herself from the wall, keeping the gun pointed at the man. "Yasashiku! Is Dad okay?!" The werewolf blinked and looked over to the cage beside him. HellBoy looked up weakly on his knees and hands. His large jacket had already fallen off behind him and he was only wearing his black shirt, which was just past his feet. The usual deep, rough voice they were used to hearing was now small and squeaky.

"I'm... okay..." The small demon took deep breaths as he tried to regain his composure. May smiled and nodded as she walked closer.

"How do you get those cages off?" May glared up at the man as he continued to hold his hand.

"Such a brave little girl, aren't you?" The man smirked as he watched HellGirl scowl.

"I'm not little! It's your fault I'm like this!" He just continued to smile even at gunpoint.

"Oh really?" He dug in his coat and in a flash had a pistol out before May could react. The bullet flew through the small demon's mid section just as she pulled the trigger, grazing the man's shoulder. HellGirl immediately blacked out and flew three feet before rolling to a stop.

"MAY!" Yasashiku subconsciously grabbed onto the jail bars and was forced back by the shock. The leader gave out a cruel chuckle as he walked closer to the unconscious demon, aiming the pistol at her forehead.

"Such a brave, yet foolish girl... Hm?" The man looked back as the black werewolf latched onto the bars with his teeth and jerked his head back and forth, ignoring the searing pain going through his body. With a sneer, he pivoted and shot at Yasashiku's shoulder, grazing his flesh. Still the young magician continued to jerk the bars back and forth until a large enough gap had been created.

Yasashiku leapt from the cage and raced towards the man, latching onto his neck as he shot once more, grazing the side of his face. The two flew over May until the black werewolf was on top of the leader, ripping at his throat. Yasashiku then stopped himself to stare at what he had just done. The man's throat was... missing. He reached up and touched his blood covered maw before looking at his hand.

_W-What have I done?_ His eyes shrank as he continued to stare, turning back to his human form slowly. The thieves brow furrow and he roared and slammed his fists into the ground, cracking the cement around them. Shaking the thought from his head, he whipped the blood from his face and ran over to the cage containing HellBoy who had fallen unconscious. The two men that had been with the leader had run off the very second Yasashiku had jumped from the cage.

"How do I turn this danm thing off?" The werewolf looked over to the table before walking over and searching for some sort of button or lever. "Ah, there we go." Yasashiku picked up a control and aimed it at the cage before pressing it. The cage slowly lifted so HellBoy was free from the cage. The magician ran over and scooped him into his arms before running to May and getting her in his arms as well. With both of the small demons in his arms, he raced back towards the many black cars that had brought them there...

---

_My wound is still healing and healing slowly since I'm still pretty young. A few days after we got back from the trip they came up with an antidote, which ages us by one-year everyday, and once were at our normal age we take something to stop the growing. Dad is about 13 now since he was four when I had stopped the man and it's been about two weeks. They haven't let me take the antidote yet since my body need to concentrate on healing and they said it would cause my body too much stress if I tried to grow and heal at the same time._

_Shortly after I came conscious and could actually think, Yasashiku confessed to me what he had done to the man back in Spain. I was as shocked as he was. Though being a werewolf it's natural to do such things, he's not used to it and it needs to be put under control. I'm trying to figure out how I can help him, but have so far came up with diddly-squat._

_So as of right now... All I can do is recover and enjoy being a little kid again, I guess. I still don't know if I inherited Dad's gift of being immortal or not. So far I've been aging like a normal human...I don't think I want to be immortal. It seems too lonely and horrible to have to watch your family and friends die while you keep thriving. Dad must feel horrible since Mom is pretty old and he hasn't aged at all since I was born..._

May narrowed her eyes and let out a sigh before looking over the illuminated city. She fingered the bead necklace Cate had given her in her palm before standing. HellGirl winced as a sharp pain went through her body before disappearing as she walked towards the small roof door.


	5. A Halflings Past

**HellGirl – A Halflings Past**

HellGirl let out a loud yawn and snuggled deeper into her father's large chest. It seemed no matter how old she was she could always fit into his lap and press against his chest like she had when she was just a small child. HellBoy's left arm was wrapped around her back and across her shoulder in a protective embrace. His right hand however, was placed in May's curled-up lap with her red fingers holding onto its thumb. They both had gotten into the same position ever since the small red demon was born and ran to her father when she had had nightmares or was lonely.

Red looked down at his daughter, taking one of his fingers and running it through a stray raven strand of hair. She reminded him so much of Liz it was almost unbearable at times. Then again, sometimes it was all he needed to keep going. It surprised him that she was so tiny even though she was a full-grown teenager. HellBoy was secretly glad that she didn't take on his trait of growing so big and so rapidly since it had caused him and his father, Trevor Broom so much trouble. He then began to recall his daughter's life as he watched her sleep soundly in his arms...

---

The two new parents stood hand in hand as they looked down at the small infant inside the incubator with wires stuck to her tiny chest and a tube going into her nostrils like a small alien on a life support system. Liz put her hand to her mouth, as if holding back tears. No matter how unemotional she usually was, the sight of her newborn hooked up to tons of wires and clinging to life by a thread jerked tears to her eyes. HellBoy hugged his wife closer and used his large, stone hand to wipe her tears away as gently as he could.

"She'll be okay, don't worry." He smiled down to the pyro to try and reassure her even though the sight crushed him inside. "She's a tough one... You're her mother, y'know." As corny as it was, it brought a weak, wavering smile to Liz's lips.

The small half demon, half human had been born extremely tiny even though she wasn't premature and had tons of health problems. The many doctors at the B.P.R.D had come to a conclusion that her two halves were battling for possession of the body. Even though it was said HellBoy had some human in him and he passed this over to his daughter, it didn't help with the internal battle.

"May." HellBoy blinked in surprise as his wife broke the silence of the dark room. The two were positioned next to the incubator even though it was well past midnight Liz had refused to leave the room and not even the large demon could convince her otherwise. "Her name will be May." Even though Red had no objection to the name, he looked down at the pyro under his arm in confusion.

"Why?"

"I just realized it's the first day of May, May Day." Of course it wasn't a highly celebrated holiday in the United States and didn't have a big meaning like Christmas or Easter, but it was a holiday nonetheless. From that point on her official name was May.

As time passed, the small demon child slowly recovered even though the first year of her life was spent lying in some sort of incubator or hospital bed. Even though she had won the battle, the internal war wasn't near over. May became sick very easily and still does throughout her teen years since her body is still trying to fight the two colliding sides. The two worst seasons that caused the tiny HellGirl to battle for her life were winter and spring...

---

May had never been to the outside world until she was five years old. The little Halfling had no idea that a world existed outside the B.P.R.D and only knew that her parents would sometimes leave the only world she knew to go one some mystical quest. Sometimes her mother would bring back something called 'candy' or a strong smelling black liquid that both of her parents loved and wouldn't allow her to taste.

Liz didn't want her child to have no idea what the outside world was, so she bundled her up to cover much skin as she could and lathered on tons of concealer until she looked like a slightly pinkish, five year old girl.

"Don't wipe that stuff off, May." The pyro once again grabbed May's gloved hand gently and peeled it away from her concealed face.

"But it feels funny..." The small HellGirl looked into the mirror, not liking what she saw. The concept that she wasn't 'normal' still meant nothing to her. All that she knew what that she looked more like her Dad then her Mom, nothing more.

"I know, but you can't take it off or take any of your clothes off while were outside... Okay?" Liz lifted the small Halfling from the bed and set her on the floor, grasping her hand to lead her out of the B.P.R.D.

"Ooookaaay..." HellGirl pouted and looked to the ground she they walked out. "Hey. Mommy?" Her brown gaze went from the floor, back to her mother.

"Yes?"

"How come you and everyone look the same, but Abe, me, and Daddy look different?" Liz almost stopped in mid-step as the dreaded and long-awaited question slipped out of her five year old daughter's mouth but she tried her best not to look phased and bent down to May's level.

"If you promise to not ask that again until we get back home, I'll tell you why." After getting a conformation from her daughter, the two headed to the outside world.

During the outing, Liz took May to the zoo, to get hot chocolate, and many other things small children enjoy. They made it back to the B.P.R.D when it was just getting dark, both of them tired from walking around all day and having a generally good time. Liz Sherman carried the sleeping Halfling into the secret base and was met by HellBoy, who took the small child's weight from his wife's arms. He was amazed at how light she was and was concerned at his daughter's lack of weight and size.

"Have a good time?" The large red demon looked down at May who had now turned the groove of her father's left arm into a hammock.

"Yeah, now I'm bushed." Liz removed her hat and gloves as they walked towards May's room to put her to bed. Both of them froze as the small demon sneezed and curled up into a ball in HellBoy's arm. Even a single sneeze could mean a life a death struggle when it came to the Halfling. "We need to take her to the medical wing." The raven-haired pyro turned towards the medical wing but stopped short as she felt the slight pressure of Red's large, stone hand on her arm.

"No, you go get some rest. I can take care of it. I'll tell you if anything is up." Before she could respond, HellBoy was already on his way towards the medical wing. Liz hesitated before going to her room to take off her thick clothing she had worn outside.

It was proven later that May had come down with pneumonia and would spend almost two months battling the illness and trying to hang onto life. After she was cured, many colds and illnesses would follow until she finally got back to her full health over five months later.

It wasn't until then that the tiny HellGirl had the chance to get her parents together and ask the question that ate away at her brain and her parent's hearts.

"Mommy? Daddy?" May stood in front of the two as they watched a movie, wearing her purple pajamas and grasping the stuffed cat doll she constantly slept with. HellBoy and Liz gave each other a worried glance before the pyro reached out and lifted the small Halfling to sit in between them.

"Did you have another nightmare?" The large red demon looked down at his daughter as she snuggled into the cushions.

"No. But I remembered something I wanted to ask you and Mommy." Her brown gaze went from mother to father, wondering why their expressions looked worried and upset. "Why do Abe, me, and Daddy look different then Mommy and everyone else here?" The two parents tensed, knowing they might as well tell their child that her life would be in solitude as long as she lived.

HellBoy took most of the role to explain how her life would be since he had lived through the same ordeal first hand. How she wouldn't be aloud outside, how she'd never be able to have any childhood friends outside of the Bureau, the list seemed to go on and on... At the end of the explanation, May was in tears huddled into her mother's arms. It was so unfair and her father's entire fault. If it weren't for him, she'd be normal. The small Halfling almost yelled at him through her tears, but as she detached herself from Liz and glared at him... She couldn't. She just couldn't. He had gone through the same thing and still did. As her eyes squinted shut and her tiny fist clenched, May suddenly went numb and fell on her rear, staring with blood shot eyes and a tear stained face at HellBoy.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Daddy..." She started to cry once more, feeling her father's large left hand scoop her up and onto his lap. That night and a few days afterward, she refused to sleep alone in her own bed and would always find some way to snuggle between HellBoy and Liz.

---

"Daddy?" The small Halfling blinked and she peeked into HellBoy's room, a yellow ball firmly in her grasp.

"What is it, May?" The large demon seemed to be getting ready for something, though May didn't know what. Slowly, she walked into his room and crept over to his bed before sitting down.

"How come..." She paused, somewhat afraid to ask her question and traced the designs on the ball with her fingers. "How come you cut your horns off?" Her own didn't look anything like her father's, pointy and over six inches long as the slowly grew with her body and curved upward.

"Well, mine are pretty big and get in the way. So I keep them shaved down." Of course that wasn't the only reason. He had originally snapped them off and shaved them down to fit in, but that wouldn't be a very smart lesson to teach to a young Halfling.

"Ohhh... I see." May tried to look up at her own horns, failing miserably. Would she ever have to snap them off? Shaking her head to forget about it, her gaze went back down to the ball, remembering why she had come in the first place. "Daddy?"

"Yeah?" HellBoy snatched his large, beaten leather jacket off a chair and put it on. May wiggled off the bed and went over to him, grinning and holding up the ball to him.

"Can you play ball with me?" The small Halfling was all smiles, as she looked up to her over 6ft father with the ball in her red hands. The large demon paused, looking down at her with saddened eyes. It hurt him that he couldn't always be there for his daughter and had to go on missions. Slowly, he kneeled down, still towering over May as he rested his hand gently on her head and spoke.

"May, as much as I'd love to, I can't. I gotta go out again." The small demon pouted and lowered the ball.

"... Oh." Her brown gaze turned away from HellBoy as his hand left her head. "Why do you have to go out sometimes? Why can't you stay here with me?" It puzzled her that what she had been told that neither her father nor she was aloud outside, yet sometimes HellBoy didn't have the choice if he wanted to stay and had to go outside.

"Well, it's my job to go out and hunt down bad guys." He held back from saying 'monsters' since he didn't want to scare the young Halfling.

"Ohhhh... Okay." She slightly understood, but didn't feel like pressing the subject any further.

"Now c'mon, lets go find Mommy and she can play with you while your gone." HellBoy lifted the small child into his arm like she was as light as a doll and walked out of his room. It was only when May became the age of 10 did she find out what exactly the 'bad guys' were. It didn't really surprise her since she sometimes over heard some of the meaner agents referring to her and her father as monsters, but said nothing of it.

---

May wandered around the long, narrow halls of the B.P.R.D. A blank expression covered her face, as if blocking off anything that could get inside. It had only been a few days ago that her mother, Liz Sherman, had been taken to the hospital. At the time neither HellBoy, nor anyone else would tell her exactly why until yesterday. Her father had sat her down like she was going to get a lecture. With age came curiosity, causing the small Halfling to often get in trouble or break things, which lead to the lectures. But when she looked up into her father's yellow eyes, she didn't see anger... or even a speck of a lecture coming.

"Daddy...?" May blinked, looking up at HellBoy with large, questioning brown eyes. It was then that he hugged her for a very long time and wouldn't let go. Even when she asked what was wrong, he wouldn't answer until he sat up again. The strong, invincible father she had known looked like he was about to cry... But not a tear was shed. He told her that Liz had fallen ill with something called 'cancer'. At first May just thought it was something like what she often got, like a cold of sorts... But HellBoy filled her in on exactly how much danger her mother was in. At first it took a few minutes to sink in... Then she cried. Cried for what seemed like hours until she finally fell asleep from exhaustion in her father's arm.

The small Halfling had woken up not too long ago, still in the pajamas her father had put her in. The tears from the night before were still slightly visible stains on her face as she approached the large metal door that lead into her father's room. May hopped up onto a chair and took the strange, metal key from her pocket. She was one of the few that possessed a key to his room, but usually had an agent open it for her since she couldn't pull the door open. As she turned the key, the door opened slightly. All she had to do was tug on the handle until there was a small enough crack for her to squeeze in and shut the door behind her.

May turned to look into HellBoy's room. At first it looked empty, until she spotted the large, red form that was her father. Slowly, she walked over. He was sitting on a metal chair and what looked like staring at nothing... Until the small Halfling got closer to inspect. He was staring at one of the few photos' the whole family had gotten together to take. HellBoy stood with his arm around his wife, looking proud yet... rather unhappy and ready to jump out of the camera's way. Liz had a huge grin on her face and held May, whom was only an infant at the time.

Without a word, the small demon hoisted herself up onto her father's lap and crawled to the center before sitting silently. It wasn't long before HellBoy bent down and wrapped his arms around her, resting his large head on May's tiny shoulder. Something moist fell through the cloth on her shoulder, hitting her red skin. It was warm. Her brown gaze turned to her father as tears welled in her eyes. Her father was crying. Her invincible, indestructible father was crying. May let her own tears flow freely as she rubbed her face into the side of HellBoy's, her small hands reaching over to grasp one of the stone fingers on his right hand for comfort...

---

After May had been given the awful news that her mother probably wouldn't survive for long, the nightmares started to take hold. She had had nightmares before, but they were usually just like normal small children got when they were left in their dark rooms all alone. But now she had nightmares with much, much more meaning. The small Halfling often woke up screaming, crying, and covered in sweat. Though oddly enough, she never remembered the dreams she was having. Only once did she remember a dream and it caused her to loose lack of sleep for many nights afterward...

A loud, ear-piercing scream echoed through the long, narrow halls of the B.P.R.D. May sat up in bed, tears streaming down her face and a fresh layer of sweat covering her body. HellBoy's yellow eyes shot open as he woke from the light slumber he had finally managed to get in. He bolted from his room, almost knocking everything over in his way. The first to arrive at May's door, he opened it only to have his legs tackled by his daughter. Her arms wrapped around one of his legs tightly, as if trying to squeeze her fear away. The large demon bent down, peeling the frightened child from his leg to hold her close. By then other agents were peeking into the room. With a wave of his large, stone hand, HellBoy dismissed them.

The small Halfling continued to weep in her father's arms as he slowly made his way over to her bed and sat down. The large demon waited until May slowly stopped crying to ask her any questions.

"Another nightmare?" May just shook her head, one of her hands clenched into a fist over her mouth and the other grasping the thumb of HellBoy's stone hand. "Do you remember it?" It was a long shot since she couldn't seem to remember any dreams she had been having recently. Though he was quiet surprised when she nodded and spoke.

"I-I was older... And you were there..." May stifled her tears throughout her sentences. "And... And we were standing... In front of Mommy's grave..." Tear began to form in her eyes once more. "And... We were both crying..." The tears started to flow freely once more as she dove into her father's chest, rubbing her face in his black shirt. "Mommy's gonna die, isn't she?!" Her voice was loud, yet somehow soft... Like she couldn't control its volume due to her tears.

HellBoy wrapped his left arm around his daughter's small form and held her close to him for a very long time, bending his head down to rest on top of her's. "No... She's not going to die... She's gonna get better, okay?" At first it seemed like his words had fallen on deaf ears until May finally managed a nod.

"D-Daddy?" She sniffed and cuddled into a ball on his lap, still pressed to his chest. "Can I sleep with you... tonight?" The large demon nodded and stood, May cradled in his left arm like a doll as they headed towards his room.

The small Halfling ended up sleeping with her father for about a week until her nightmares became less and less, eventually going back to how they had been.

---

For a long while in May's life, things were pretty uneventful. Unlike her father, whom had been put in charge of exterminating monsters and the like when he had reached his full height at the age of 12, she didn't have the privilege and often spent her days wandering around the B.P.R.D. The small Halfling was now nine years old and full of adventurous energy. She was getting more and more of a tomboy as time went by, and went around wearing jeans and plain, red shirts for the most part. Ironically enough, her favorite toy to get in trouble with was a small plastic gun that shot suction darts her father had managed to get her one Christmas.

The young demon wandered restlessly around the narrow hallways inside the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, the plastic gun stuck in a makeshift holster she had made out of fabric and tied around her waist. Before she realized it, she came upon the hallway that her father's room was down and stopped to watch an agent and HellBoy walk out of his room. A sly, evil grin curled up her features, looking much like the Grinch from How the Grinch Stole Christmas as she dove behind one of the many glass cases that held artifacts and other such things inside.

As the two approached, May leapt out, rolled in front of them and shot. "Ha!" The suction dart stuck to one of HellBoy's red cheeks as he barely even flinched. As the agent regained his composure, the small Halfling stood and realized her father didn't look amused at all. "... Oh crap." Before she could even turn to run, the large demon had already curled his left arm around her waist and hoisted her up to his chest. May grumbled, hanging from his arm like a rag doll until he moved his right hand under her bare feet for her to stand on. Even though she was nine, she barely measured up to other children her age.

"So are you mad at me?" May looked up as HellBoy plucked the suction cup from his cheek and handed it to her.

"Not really, I was expecting it." May put the dart back into her gun after her father set her on the floor once more. "You should get some shoes on... or socks, at least. You know how easily you get sick."

"Iiiiii knooooow..." The Halfling rolled her eyes and grabbed a hold of HellBoy left hand. The large demon then said something to the agent and they split up. She didn't really care what was said between them, zoning out to her own little world until her father broke the silence.

"I should teach you how to use a gun soon..." He then sighed, not wanting to teach his little girl such things... But it was inevitable. Once she got old enough, they'd put her on a position right along side him. That and when she got old enough, she would probably beg to come along anyway.

"... Really?" May raised a brow in disbelief as she craned her neck to look up at her seven-foot tall father.

"Yeah, your gonna need to learn how to eventually anyway." The young demon grinned as HellBoy opened up her door. "Now put some socks on, I gotta go."

The Halfling took a few steps into her room before turning to the large demon with a scowl. She then raised her arms to the sky, as if trying to grasp something that wasn't there. "Hug." Smiling, her father kneeled down and gave her a quick hug with his left arm. The young demon stretched to reach him, still short even though he was kneeling.

May waved as he stood and left her room. "See-ya!" For a moment she just watched her father as he disappeared around the corner, thinking about things most children her age didn't dare think of. Shaking her head, she ran over to her dresser to put on a pair of socks.

---

The Halfling panted furiously as she leapt from rooftop to rooftop. She often snuck out and stole small things like coffee or cookies or something without getting caught... Unfortunately this time she had been caught, and on camera no less. Danm, once she got home she'd be in DEEP trouble. They'd ground her for life, for sure! Now 16, they punished her like they had done with her father and locked her in her room. May was starting to loose her momentum and stumbled as she leapt to the next building. Upon landing, she tripped and rolled head over heels until she lay sprawled on her back with all her limbs outstretched.

"Auugh... God..." Cursing, she didn't bother to try and stand, too out of breath to even move.

"Uhm... Are you okay?" A face entered May's view, sending her into a panic. Throwing her exhaustion aside, she leapt up and crouched not too far away, backing up slowly and ready to spring into a sprint again at any sign of danger. The girl that seemed her age approached and held out bottled water she had been holding. "Here, you look exhausted."

The demon could just blink at the girl's kind gesture, like she had spoken in a foreign language. Slowly, she reached out and took the water bottle before relaxing a little bit.

"Your HellGirl, right? What were you running from?" The girl walked over to the edge of the apartment building and leaned on it, looking down then over to May. "And don't worry, I don't have a camera or will tell anyone you fell onto my roof." She smiled as the Halfling chugged the water. For some reason, the demon felt more comfortable after she saw the smile... As if she could truly trust this girl with anything. Of course, she knew that wasn't always true and stepped wearily.

"I was running from a guy who snapped my picture..." HellGirl heaved as she stood and set the now empty water bottle on the side of the building. "I better go. Thanks for the water." May turned to leave, but was stopped by the girl's voice.

"Hey! You can come back here y'know... It'd be nice to have someone to talk to sometimes on the roof." The girl held out her hand, "My names Cate... Is yours really HellGirl?" The Halfling paused before turning and shaking Cate's hand.

"No, my names May... I might take you up on that offer once they unground me." Before Cate could question who in the world would dare to ground a demon, HellGirl had already waved and leapt to the next building.

"Hm... Oh well. I'll have to ask her about that if she comes back." Cate watched May's form vanish over the buildings before she turned back to stare at the street below...


End file.
